Pathum Nissanka remembers being around cricket from his earliest years. "I've been playing since I was in year one or year two," he says, the game as present and natural a feature of his life as the brooding Kalu Ganga (black river), which meets the Indian Ocean in his home town of Kalutara.
He had had this cricket-soaked childhood because his father, Sunil Silva, was then a groundsman at the biggest club in town. "It was my Thaththa who inspired that love in me," Nissanka says. "He taught me how to hold a bat. He was my first coach." His mother, Geethika, used to sell flowers outside Kalutara's famous Buddhist temple; theirs was not a family of great means. But what they did have was this burning desire to make their talented son a cricketer.
In addition to the early trainings and sweltering afternoons that form the bedrock of a burgeoning cricketing life, Nissanka was forever facing throwdowns from his father at home or at the club ground. It was there, or so the story goes, that a serious work ethic developed. It is this tirelessness that has set him apart.
Although he was precocious, Nissanka's rise through Sri Lanka's system was gradual. He started at as good a cricketing school as the city could offer, Kalutara Vidyalaya, which produced TM Dilshan. But its First XI still played in a Division II competition that was holding back Nissanka's development. Eventually he was scouted by Isipathana College and moved there - a fancy-ish Colombo institution but one better known for its rugby. When he graduated to senior domestic cricket, he spent a couple of seasons at Badureliya Sports Club before moving to the better-resourced Nondescripts Cricket Club.
At no rung on this ladder did Nissanka attract big hype. Few whispers were heard about his being Sri Lanka's next great batter. No social-media campaigns of note aimed to propel him into the national side. No selectors backed his promise and carried him into a national squad on a palanquin, as they had done others. Nissanka was required to put his game together stage by stage, often adding attacking elements to what he says was always a robust defensive technique.
Before he made his debut for Sri Lanka in 2021, Nissanka strung together two first-class seasons in which he averaged around 90, raising his overall first-class average to an outstanding 67.54. On that maiden 2021 tour of West Indies, he became the first Sri Lankan batter in 20 years to make a hundred on Test debut. In that innings he was scoreless in his first 20 balls, and on 18 off his first 70.
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Nearly three quarters of the way through 2025, it is possible we are seeing the rise of Sri Lanka's first space-age, three-format batter. No other specialist batter who came up in the T20 age has quite made it across formats. Nissanka opens the batting in all three. Since 2024, he has put up serious numbers.
In Tests he averages 51.20 in that period. No opener in the world with 400 runs in that stretch averages as much. In ODIs he averages 48.47 with a strike rate of 98. In T20Is, he's hit 970 runs at a strike rate of 142.
It has become clear through this period that Nissanka has spent his four years in international cricket developing and honing fresh skills. It is his attacking game he has expanded the most. It took being dropped from ODIs for six months, at the back end of 2021, for him to realise what the next stage of his development needed to be.
"After my first nine one-dayers, my average was down at nine-something [9.55]," Nissanka says. "I knew then that I needed to do more than that for the team, and had to find ways to improve. So I started training more than usual. I trained pretty much every day, and batted three or four times a day."
Having done the hard work of breaking through to the next level so many times, Nissanka knew the drill. The first step was to identify what his game lacked. For the first time, he had access to Sri Lanka Cricket's coaching and analysis resources.
"I looked at what my weak points were, and which areas I wasn't getting many runs in. I analysed all that, and had some idea of how to change my game so I could put the ball in those areas.
"My back-foot punch wasn't in a good place previously. I would play it, but I didn't get many runs from it. My slash also needed to improve. When you're up against the new ball and it's swinging, you need to have these shots to score off. I worked really hard on those shots, and practised them constantly."
The data shows significant improvement. Where until the end of 2022, Nissanka struck at only 105 in the sectors immediately adjacent to point on either side in T20Is, since the start of 2024 (we're excluding 2023, as the main transition year), he has struck at 132 through that region.
There was also general power-hitting work, and strength-building in the gym. Where until the end of 2022 he used to hit a six once every 37 balls, he has cleared the rope once every 25.29 balls, since 2024. The fours have also come at a substantially faster clip - he hits one once every 6.1 balls since 2024, when until the end of 2022, he'd hit one every 9.97 deliveries.
While the improvements on the off side have been good, that leap in boundary frequency likely has more to do with more dominant leg-side play.
"The pull shot is also really important if you're an opening batter," Nissanka says. "Usually you are facing fast bowlers at the top of the order, and you need to have that option."
He had always been strong behind square on the leg side, but Nissanka now pulls more confidently in front of square. Where until the end of 2022 he used to pull only 8.32% of deliveries faced in T20Is, after 2024 he pulls 14.64%. And where he used to strike at 164 with the pull, since 2024 he strikes at 233 with that same shot - a huge improvement. To sum this up: Nissanka plays the pull both more often and substantially better than he used to, and the cumulative impact on his scoring through the leg side has been spectacular. Where he once struck at 162 when putting the ball square on the leg side (either just in front of square or just behind), he now strikes at 210 when the ball goes in that region. It has become his most productive zone.
In his 68 off 44 against Hong Kong in the current Asia Cup, without which Sri Lanka would likely have lost, Nissanka showcased two other neat tricks he has picked up over the years. One is the lap scoop he played in the 14th over, getting down on one knee to lift a full delivery from a seamer over short fine leg. The second he disclosed in the post-match press conference. Asked if his back was okay, given the team physio had run out to treat him during the course of that innings (Nissanka has had recurring back injuries in his career), he replied: "No, I was a little tired at that time, so I did that to take a little break." A mischievous grin split his face in two.
In four years at the top level, he has made the kinds of incremental advances that have often eluded young Sri Lanka batters at the international level. But there is a distance to go yet. Although he has been good since last year, that T20I strike rate in particular could use a little prodding forward. While he has found recent success in this format, he is yet to light up a big tournament. If Sri Lanka reach the Asia Cup's Super Four and beyond, Nissanka will have the opportunity to unfurl his new skills against high-profile opposition. Beyond that, next year's T20 World Cup beckons.
He still takes his father's advice on board. Although he now has access to all the cricketing resources his nation has to offer, "Thaththa still makes some good points, and I take what I can from them," he says. Thanks in part to their relationship, Nissanka knows this too is only a stage in the journey he has been on since as far back as he can remember. There is always another step to take, another rung to reach for.