Rasitha Dinesh Tharanga does Gurukula proud
He was born on 27th November 1985 and admitted to VidyalokaVidyalayaKadawatha initially to grade one in 1991 when Mr. Piyatissa was at the helm of the school. From his smaller days his forte was cricket and firstly he played softball cricket with his neighbouring friends and class mates.
He participated for the Inter house sports meets when he was grade four and five and he did 75, 100 and High Jump and Long Jump and both these years he came second in these events and in his second year he participated in the Divisional meet and came second.
 |
| Rasitha Dinesh Tharanga |
He got through the grade five scholarship Exam and joined Gurukula Vidyalaya in 1996 when D. M. Rajakaruna was at the helm of the school and his teacher was Mrs. Silva. In the meantime his parents G. Rathnasiri and B. Sirimawathie noticing the keenness and talents of their son they handed over their son to the then cricket coach Nimal Perera and Mr.Saram was the Master in Charge and he was selected and played for the under 13 teams in 1997 and 1998 and this first captain was ChandimaJanaka.
Then he played for the under 15 team in 1999 and 2000 respectively and he represented his alma mater in the under 17 team in 2001 and 2002. He played for the first eleven team in 2002/2003, 2003/2004 and 2004/05 cricket seasons and he was the vice captain in 2004/05. He played in two Big Matches and in two limited over matches against their arch rivals Dharmaloka Vidyalaya.
His first year itself he passed the 600 run mark and in his second year too he repeated the same performances in five matches and captured 44 wickets with three five wicket hauls. In 2003/04 seasons he scored a century against Maris Stella and in 2004/05 season he notched up another century versus St. Anthony’s College Wattala. His three captains were Chandima Janaka, Buddhi Prasanna and Kavishka Deshan.
After leaving school he played for Kelaniya Sports Club for two years in the Donavan Andree Trophy and he took up to coaching at Gurukula in 2006 under Lal Senarathne for a decade and since 2017 he is the Head coach at Gurukula and his assistants are Buddhi Prasanna and Nadun Kulasekara.
At present he is coaching two under 13, 15 teams and the under 17 and first eleven teams. In 2010 under Mr. Senaratne and himself they won the Division Two tournament and since 2011 they are in the Division one. During this period Harshan Duminda represented in the 2014 under 19 world cup and Praveen Nimesh was in the under 19 squad and in the meantime he has produced several cricketers of fame.