Niroshan Dickwella

A top-order attacking left-hand batsman with tremendous wicket-keeping skills, Niroshan Dickwella is a professional cricketer for Sri Lanka who plays all formats of cricket and became famous for his unorthodox shots, behind the wicket. After the retirement of the legend Kumar Sangakkara, Niro followed in his footsteps to become the regular starter in the national side.

Dickwella was felicitated with the Sri Lanka Schoolboy Cricketer of the Year award in 2012, He amassed over 1000 runs in a season which saw him as a regular in domestic cricket. 

After a volatile start to his career, he made his List A debut playing for Nondescripts Cricket Club v Colts Cricket Club at Colombo on Dec 9, 2012. In the absence of Dinesh Chandimal from domestic cricket, Niro became a regular wicket-keeper for the Nondescripts.

On the back of consistent domestic performances and Chandimal being injured frequently, he became the go-to dynamic wicket-keeper batsman who can bat at the top of the order. 

He made his International debut in Test cricket against South Africa in July 2014 and made his One Day International debut against India on 16 November 2014. 

Dickwella had quite an encouraging start to his limited-over career and was soon given a Twenty20 International debut cap against India on 9th February 2016 and was included in the 2016 ICC T20I World Cup at first but after a few setbacks in Asia Cup 2016, he was dropped from the squad.

The Kandy-born bounced back after a floundering domestic season and was included in Sri Lanka’s squad against South Africa for the T20I series, and came into the limelight after a match-winning knock in the third T20I, which helped them in their first series win against South Africa at their own backyard.

After an astounding comeback, the Trinity College alma-mater had announced his arrival at the international level but faced a lot of competition alongside Kusal Perera. The latter, being a powerful hitter and crowd favourite, Kusal replaced Niroshan Dickwella from the Sri Lankan Squad for the ICC Cricket World Cup 2019. But, with age and talent being on this site, it won’t be surprising if he becomes the mainstay of Sri Lankan batting during their rebuilding phase.

(As of March 2021)