CHENNAI: IN late 2020, a young leg-spinner scalped the wicket of veteran Angelo Mathews in a Lanka Premier League match. While his numbers (1/29) may not scream out at you in a scorecard, the significance of his appearance for Jaffna Stallions was high. Vijayakanth Viyaskanth, then 19, became the first player born and brought up from Jaffna — the heart of the Sri Lankan Tamil community — in an internationally televised match.
Six years and two Sri Lankan appearances later, and the leggie is now watched by many, as the Tri Nation ‘A’ series continues with Sri Lanka ‘A’ taking on India ‘A’ for the second time in Dambulla on Monday. For him, it is a matter of pride to become the first man from Jaffna — especially with the history of civil war and the struggles of the minority Tamil community — to play for Sri Lanka since they became a Test nation. "There was C Balakrishnan from Jaffna who played in the 1970s for Ceylon. I am happy and proud to have achieved this and am inspired to work harder for more,” he said in an interaction facilitated by Sony Sports Network.
The 24-year-old leg spinner explained how his career has grown since his T20 debut and took pride in representing the Tamil community. He made his Sri Lanka debut in the Hangzhou Asian Games against Afghanistan in 2023. There, he scalped his first wicket. Opportunities to play in franchise cricket — including a year at IPL franchise Sunrisers Hyderabad — has helped him grow. Another Sri Lankan cap in November 2025 against Pakistan has not only helped him but his province. He explained how more players are taking up cricket. “Jaffna has a rich cricketing culture which is almost a century old. District level cricket has improved. A lot of players from the northern province are coming to play cricket in Colombo as well as in this A team. We have a young slinger named Kugadas Mathulan. So, I think a lot of players are coming around from Jaffna. I think the cricket there has developed a lot and I hope to see more players from the North come and play for Sri Lanka,” he explained.
And when Viyaskanth wears the dark blue and yellow colours of Sri Lanka, he hopes to put on a good show against the Indian team filled with IPL stars including Vaibhav Sooryavanshi. “Most of the players are coming back from a good IPL. However, I do trust my skills and I don't get intimidated at all. So I have my own plans and I trust my skills and experience. I will be looking forward to facing not only Sooryavanshi, but a lot of other Indian players,” he explained.
He explained how his name came about. “My father’s name was Nirmal Vijayakanth. Both my parents were huge fans of the erstwhile Tamil matinee star Vijayakanth. I remember my mother telling me that they had to mix the name of Lord Vyasa and Vijayakanth to make it Viyaskanth,” he said.
Listening to music of popular tamil artists like Anirudh Ravichander, AR Rahman and Yuvan Shankar Raja is something he does in his pastime. “My favourite song is AR Rahman’s ‘Nee Singam Dhan.’ I put on that song before I play matches. Even Virat Kohli likes it too!,” he said.
