Sri Lanka’s leg spinner Kevin Koththigoda has grabbed attention with his outstanding bowling action in the T10 League in Abu Dhabi. He was seen bowling to the likes of Shane Watson and Anton Devcich in the match between Bangla Tigers and Deccan Gladiators on Saturday.
Koththigoda’s action has been compared to the former South Africa spinner Paul Adams, whose ‘frog in a blender’ action took international cricket by storm a couple of decades ago.
He did manage to flummox Watson on a couple of occasions, but the Australian was able to smash him for sixes on two occasions.
Bangla Tigers, choosing to bat first, scored 108 for 5 in 10 overs. Colin Ingram top-scored for the side, blasting 37 from 21 while Rilee Rossouw scored 26 from 12. In reply, the Gladiators chased down the total with a ball to spare. Shane Watson starred for the Gladiators, scoring 41 from 25 balls. Koththigoda had been seen in the U-19 Asia Cup in 2017.
Koththigoda was quoted by The National as saying, “From the beginning I was bowling like this, and I never changed through under 13, 15, 17 and 19 cricket in Sri Lanka.”
He added, “In the beginning, I was playing with a tennis ball with my dad. From there I began to play cricket, and I have kept this action since.”
