Melbourne: Exactly a decade ago, he was a member of the Sri Lankan playing XI which faced India in the 50-over World Cup final at Mumbai’s Wankhede Stadium.
But that seems a distant memory as Sri Lankan cricketer Suraj Randiv now drives a bus to make a living.
Once a regular member of the Sri Lankan national team, Randiv currently resides in Melbourne and works as a bus driver for Transdev, a company which employs 1200 drivers from different professions.
The 36-year Randiv was an off-spinner who played 12 Tests, 31 ODIs, and 7 T20 Internationals for Sri Lanka before calling it a day. He also had a short stint in the IPL, with Chennai Super Kings.
Randiv was not part of Sri Lanka’s original squad for the 2011 World Cup but was called up as replacement for injured Angelo Mathews.
Randiv went on to play the final, but didn’t get a wicket as India won by 6 wickets to lift the ODI World Cup for the second time.
Randiv still plays cricket at an amateur level for a local club in Melbourne. For a living, though, he drives buses.
He was last year called up by the Australian board to bowl at Australian batsmen in the nets to help them prepare for the Test series against India.
