A role model for aspiring youngsters in the North
Vijayaraj received a birthday surprise from his Jaffna Stallions team mates
Cricket in Sri Lanka is something beyond sport. It plays a vital role in bringing people together as a nation. Despite the country being in strife for nearly three decades as a consequence of the civil war, their passion towards the sport was not affected.
We have heard numerous stories where youngsters have been able to break barriers in life and go on to perform on the world stage. Here is the story of Sebastianpillai Vijayaraj, a gritty youngster who has emerged from the town of Kilinochchi in the Northern Province.
Vijayaraj fell in love with the sport at an early age. His cricketing journey has been a ride with many obstacles, yet he has ambitions of representing the national cricket team. However, his early years as a cricketer have been extremely difficult as he hailed from an underprivileged family background. He had made cricket bats using palmyrah branches. At that time his family was in Pallai but they had to move to Kandavalai because of the civil war. He learnt the basics of the sport at Kandavalai Central College under the watchful eyes of Kanthasamy Sivakumar.
Despite having learnt the basics of cricket, he didn’t have the opportunity to play school cricket as none of the 18 schools where he studied had hard ball cricket. As a consequence of that, he had to play soft ball cricket. Since they didn’t have cricket grounds in the Kilinochchi district, he used a mat to practice in the gravelly roads.
He idolised legendary Sri Lankan fast bowler Lasith Malinga and used to keep an old shoe as the target similar to what Malinga does at practices. Vijayaraj sometimes came home with bleeding feet as he was practising with a worn-out pair of shoes on the gravelly road. As time went by he began to analyse Malinga’s bowling action and started emulating him.
Despite the financial difficulties the family went through, his parents always supported him. Normally in that area, adolescents have to earn for their families. Fortunately, Vijayaraj’s parents wanted him to concentrate on improving his cricketing skills while the family members bore his cricketing expenses.
He used to practice extra hours to cover and cope up with the required standard that he needed to maintain as a professional cricketer.
He was sad that he didn’t have the opportunity to play school cricket because of the prolonged tense situation in the country, but insisted that the future generation will have the opportunity to show their talents and abilities.
He missed out on his chance to represent the Under-19 National Cricket team as he did not get a chance to come out of Kilinochchi.
However, in 2016 he got an opportunity to play a soft ball tournament in Kilinochchi and due to his impressive performances he joined Krishnabaarathi Cricket Club. He was selected to play a division III tournament.
That was his introduction to hard ball cricket. In that tournament he went on to claim 17 wickets in four matches.
A few months later his career took a turn when Sirasa TV identified him and this was the time he was introduced to Raja Mahendran who owns the Capital Maharaja Organisation. He was employed under the organisation. After some time, he was recruited as one of the net bowlers for two years in the national cricket team. He was called ‘Kilinochchi Express’ because of his express pace and that went on to be his stage name.
It was during this time that he met Anusha Samaranayake along with Shehan Daniels of Maharaja. It was Anusha who turned this youngster into a professional cricketer. One of his invaluable pieces of advice to Vijayaraj was to bowl four to five yorkers per over.
He was with Badureliya Cricket Club in 2018, Colombo Cricket Club (CCC) in 2019, BRC in 2020 and is currently with Tamil Union. The inaugural LPL provided a great opportunity to him as it was the first time he practised in an international cricket stadium under lights.
“The LPL was a great opportunity for me to interact with experienced international players such as Shoaib Malik, Usman Shinwari, Duanne Olivier and Johnson Charles. Playing under the captaincy of Thisara Perera and playing with senior players such as Suranga Lakmal, Dhananjaya de Silva, Wanindu Hasaranga and Avishka Fernando. Coaches Hemang Badani and Thilina Kandamby monitored my progress closely. They were impressed about my ability to bowl the yorker. They also gave me a lot of ideas to go forward and play a higher standard of cricket,” he recalled while expressing his thoughts about the tournament.
He said the facilities for cricket in Kilinochchi and in the northern areas needs to be improved.
“The facilities that we get in the north are very less. Hopefully I can be an inspiration to many youngsters and change the perception that cricketers from the north cannot represent Sri Lanka at the international level. I am hoping to spend the money that I got from the LPL to improve cricketing facilities in my province,” he said.
He also revealed his ambition of representing the national cricket team and at the same time get the international recognition of a quality fast bowler.
He expressed his gratitude to Raja Mahendran, Chevan Daniel, Anandan Arnold ( CEO- Jaffna Stallions), Roshan Jebathaas (District Coach-Kilinochchi) , Harry Vageesan ( Team Manager -Jaffna Stallions), Saranga Wijerathne (Media Manager -Jaffna Stallions) and Sri Lanka Cricket.
Players such as Vijayaraj are assets to the country. The responsible authorities should nurture these youngsters to get the best out of them for the future of Sri Lanka cricket.