Pethum Nissanka: A father’s dream
Nissanka with his mother Geethika
Sunil Silva, now 52, was an ordinary youth with a huge dream of becoming a cricketer during his younger days. But his dream was never given a positive thought by his parents, which eventually made him a disappointed individual.
Yet, the craving cricketer within Silva dreamt big, to at least make his dream count through one of his offsprings. After starting a new life with Geethika Senanayake, Silva longed for a son, who could realise his dream. Both Silva and Geethika were overjoyed to welcome Thilini Madushani, their first child, a daughter.
But deep down Silva, the ardent cricket lover, was still disappointed even as a father. After a few years’ wait Silva finally was able to breathe some fresh air, when they welcomed the couple’s second child on May 18, 1998, a son, whom they named Pathum Nissanka Silva.
As the boy’s name says it all ‘Pathum’ which stands for ‘hope’, Silva began to reorganise his mission — making his son a cricketer, who would win the world. After 22 years and 310 days, Silva is a happy man and a proud father of a cricketer that could easily be termed as world class.
“I love cricket, but my parents never allowed me to play. My first child was a girl and then when we got Pathum, my intention was to make him a cricketer. Soon after he started to walk I trained him the basics and I did my utmost best to realise my dream. Today I can happily die,” a rejuvenated Silva told the Sunday Times, two days after his son, Pathum Nissanka became the fourth Sri Lanka batsman to score a century in his Test debut.
Pathum Nissanka became the fourth Sri Lankan to score a Test century on debut
To see the whole country applaud Nissanka on his extraordinary feat undoubtedly makes Silva proud. His temperamental knock of 103 off 252 deliveries in the first Test against the West Indies at Antigua, which included only six boundaries, is a testimony to Silva’s commitment as a strict father and an ardent lover of cricket.
To make Nissanka a cricketer that would make Sri Lanka proud was in Silva’s agenda of bringing up his son to this level, but never in the world or in his wildest dream, the former groundsman of Kalutara Town Club would have ever thought that his son will enter the record books.
“I still continue to coach him.. But for his age, he is a matured cricketer. Even before the fourth day’s play he (Nissanka) called me and my only advise to him was not to counter the new ball. I told him to leave the good deliveries and face the bad ones until he settles down. All I wanted from him is to bat for a longer period, considering the fact that Sri Lanka was in a bad state, but to see him score a century and become the fourth Test batsman to score a century on debut, made me emotional,” moved by his son’s achievement, Silva revealed.
But bringing up Nissanka to become what and who he is today was a commitment beyond imaginary for Silva. From the moment the juvenile Nissanka could walk, Silva made him bat and bowl and by the time the youngster entered school, to Kalutara Vidyalaya, he was a talented cricketer for his age.
Nissanka’s cricketing abilities was further bolstered by another Sunil, but who has a different surname — Saluwadana. Saluwadana was the mentor and coach for T.M. Dilshan, who happened to cut his teeth in cricket also from Kalutara Vidyalaya before becoming an international icon and the creator of the now-famous shot ‘Dilscoop’.
Silva too took Dilshan’s upbringing as mentorship to guide his son, Nissanka as a cricketer. As a father, Silva was right behind his son from dawn to dusk, making sure he never misses a single day of practice. The father’s commitment was such, that the academic commitments of his son was secondary to cricket.
“I missed by bus, but I always was of the view that my son should not go through the miserable life I went through. For that, the only solace and salvation I knew was cricket. My wife, as a mother, had always opposed me on how I relied heavily on my son of realising my dream and for not fully supporting his academic endeavours. But today, the whole family is happy and proud of what he has achieved and where he has reached,” Silva added.
A much younger Nissanka
As a couple with an appalling family background Silva and Geethika were keen to come out of their below average lifestyle and make their children better persons than them. Though Silva today matured himself in cricket to become the junior coach of Holy Cross College, Kalutara, he was a groundsman of Kalutara Town Club. Geethika used to sell flowers to Buddhist devotees by the side of Galle Road, next to the Kalutara Temple.
The couple lived under deprived conditions with their two kids, struggling to survive, facing daily challenges to make ends meet. It was under such a background that Silva took an obstinate stand to make his son a ‘cricketer everyone would remember’. The highly committed father’s effort was bolstered when Nissanka was invited by three leading schools from Colombo to join them with the pledge to take care of the aspiring cricketer to reach the next level.
It was the first sign of Silva’s strict and disciplined upbringing of a future international cricketer started to demonstrate. This was also the moment when Geethika strongly began to believe in Silva’s dream.
Though Sunil Saluwadana, the coach of Kalutara Vidyalaya was reluctant to release Nissanka initially, he too was broadminded to think of the future prospect of the youngster, who ended up his final two years playing for Isipathana College, a Division I school. To earn this transition Nissanka had earned a reputation among the schools cricket fraternity as a flawless, technically sound and reliable batsman with great temperament for his age.
“He came from a poor background and played for a Division II school team and everyone was of the view that he deserves a place in a good side. So we all at Isipathana College got together and managed to convince parents after ensuring that Nissanka’s future would be secured as a cricketer. For Isipathana, he played two seasons and he’s a brilliant batsman. In 2017 he scored over 1000 runs,” Pradeep Nishantha, who was Nissanka’s coach at Isipathana, stated.
Sunil Silva - father
Yet, even Nishantha credits the youngster’s father for all the hard work and commitment made through the years to transform Nissanka into a batsman, who would be reliable and matured for his age.
Being a very silent character, Nissanka was fondly welcomed at Isipathana for the fact that he was more focused on his cricket. The coach was highly impressed by his temperament and the ability to open, bat in the middle, or even come down the order. He related of an incident when Nissanka was hesitant to go home after a match, even after scoring more than 90 runs.
“He played a reckless shot and got out, and Nissanka was not willing to go home after the match, knowing his father would get pissed off. We had to keep the chap in a friend’s place and explain his father lengthily before sending him home. Such was the influence his father had on Nissanka’s career, and also Sunil Saluwadana, at Kalutara Vidyalaya. I’m sure they should be prouder than us,” Nishantha added.
Soon after his school career, Nissanka joined Badureliya Sports Club before joining Nondescript Cricket Club to average 67.11 in 34 first class matches with a tally of 3557 matches. Through this period, astonishingly, not more than a handful from his neighbourhood knew who Pathum Nissanka was, until he became the fourth batsman behind Brendon Kuruppu, Romesh Kaluwitharana and Thilan Samaraweera to score a Test century on debut.
Until then Nissanka and his father have frequented the road early in the morning and late in the night to attend practice sessions and matches, but only a handful have seen him and known him of what he does. Silva was so cautious in his construction of Pathum Nissanka, the international cricketer.
Today, not only the neighbourhood of tsunami houses near Aluvihare ground in Palathota Road, six kilometres away from the Kalutara town, but the world knows who Nissanka is and what he achieved. Yet, as Silva uncovered Nissanka makes sure to have at least bat 10 throws in a one-to-one session with his father, daily before leaving home.
“He is matured, but there are little things he should be careful about on the way. As a cricketer, he is armed with everything he needs — talent, character and maturity. All he needs now is to be mentally strong and do the right thing. I can easily let him go and make him take his own decisions now, but I’ll always be his coach, than a father. I’m sure if he walks the correct path, he will complete my journey,” an emotional Silva said.