Shubman Gill in action against West Indies during the second ODI in Guwahati on Wednesday, 30 September 2026.
| Photo Credit: RITU RAJ KONWAR

Chaminda Vaas was never purely about raw pace or theatrical intimidation. He was about craft. A left-arm seamer with immaculate control, subtle movement and relentless accuracy, Vaas could make a new ball swing, seam or move sharply inward into a batsman before settling into the kind of pressure that eventually broke them.

Vaas took 355 wickets in 111 Tests and 400 in 322 ODIs, becoming Sri Lanka’s most prolific fast bowler in both formats. He could bat too, scoring more than 3,000 Test runs – which includes a century. But his defining quality was simple: he made precision feel dangerous, and that came to the fore at the 2003 World Cup, where he emerged as the leading wicket-taker with 23 wickets.

Now 52, and sporting a striking silver mane, Vaas remains closely involved with the game as a coach and mentor. He was recently in Hyderabad for a mentorship stint with the Palamuru Strikers in TG20. In an interview with The Hindu, he talks about the evolution of fast bowling, the demands of modern cricket, his coaching experiences around the world, and memories of Sri Lanka’s iconic 1996 World Cup triumph. Excerpts:

You have worked across the world with various franchises as a mentor and coach. How has that experience been?

With subcontinent players, their maturity takes some time to develop, and their game understanding can be a bit limited early on. But once they mature, they learn quickly. I always tell youngsters that discipline and fitness are the two things you cannot compromise on in this sport. If you’re committed to becoming a cricketer, you have to sacrifice a lot — but if you commit to yourself, I’m sure you can succeed. The way youngsters in India have stepped up and delivered for Indian cricket has been amazing.

You played over 100 Tests and 300 ODIs. Those are remarkable numbers for a fast bowler, given how brutal the game is on the body. With today’s focus on nutrition and fitness science, players still seem to break down more often. Is there anything about modern training or diet that makes you think, “We never needed that to play this much cricket”?

I’m not going to argue with the science. A lot of new methods and logic have come up. But one thing I do believe is that the amount of cricket today’s youngsters play can sometimes be too much. As I said earlier, fitness is the most important thing. If you’re physically strong enough to support your mindset, that matters most. You need to look after yourself, time things right, and stay focused, especially fast bowlers. If you want to play longer and perform well, fitness comes first, along with proper rehab and the right diet.

You were known for your late in-swingers, especially to right-handed batters. What are your thoughts on swing bowling in the current era?

After watching the last edition of the IPL, most bowlers don’t swing the ball much anymore. The game has become a batsman’s paradise. But I still believe bowlers who can swing the ball and hit the right areas can take wickets. The number of balls going for boundaries is higher than bowlers might expect, but I’m confident that bowlers who focus on swing can still take plenty of wickets.

Left-arm fast bowlers seem to carry a certain aura that right-arm bowlers don’t quite have…

Left-armers are unique; they are a special breed. When they start bowling and try to perform, they always focus and give their best. I’m not saying right-armers don’t, but left-armers bring something special, and they tend to do things the right way.

The game has become batsman-dominated, thanks in part to T20 cricket. If you were coaching an up-and-coming 18-year-old left-arm pace bowler today, would you tell him to focus purely on swing, or on developing variations? What’s the right balance?

As a bowler, you have to keep it simple. My philosophy as a coach – for bowlers or batters – is not to complicate the game. If you overcomplicate things, they won’t go your way; if you keep things simple, the game itself is simple. Especially in fast bowling, I always say: do the right things. The batter will come after you, but remember, you have six balls to his one chance. If you bowl good areas and good lines consistently, you’ll get your wickets and keep the batter under pressure.

You spoke about your relationship with Muralitharan. When you trained together, how many times did you face him, and did you ever figure him out by the end of your career?

It was always very difficult for me to read him. He’d bowl the off-spinner or the doosra, and I never quite got the better of him. Nor he of me! But yeah, he was very hard to face. I could see why he became such an important bowler. Every time he practised, he’d bowl right until the end of the session. That’s the kind of dedication and potential that made him the number one bowler in the world.

This year marked the 30th anniversary of the 1996 World Cup win. Did the team have a group chat to reminisce, or do friends and family bring it up with you on the anniversary?

We celebrated in Malaysia this year. One of the Sri Lankan community groups organised it there. We went as a team and had a really good time. Even though Sri Lanka is a small country, a group of us — three or four guys at least — meet up regularly and share memories. We had a great time in Malaysia, even played a game together.

It’s been 30 years, and you’ve spoken about that campaign a lot. But is there one behind-the-scenes story that not many people know?

Nothing specific comes to mind, but if I have to mention something, then I will say that we had a tough time in 1996. After touring Australia, we had a terrible tournament there, and then there was the Motera incident and a few other setbacks. We went into the 1996 World Cup as underdogs, but we played as one family. I remember our captain, Arjuna Ranatunga, telling us that it was a very important tournament. He told us not to show off, but to play well from game one. He always encouraged the youngsters, and that’s how we came together as a team and won the World Cup.

You’ve had a 30-year career across various franchises, and interest in the sport has only grown. Tell us about dressing-room life, something fans never really get to see or understand, especially with the national team.

It depends on the format. A Test match is totally different from a one-day game. In Tests, you get up every morning and come back to the dressing room, whether things are going well as a team or not, you have to face it together. There are ups and downs, but as a player, you deal with all of that in the dressing room.

In one-day cricket, it’s similar, we always support and encourage each other and try to give our best, whether we’re representing our country, playing county cricket in England, or playing franchise cricket. You need a good rapport with your teammates wherever you play.

On a lighter note, during your time with the Sri Lankan national team as a player or coach, who was the most fun or chaotic player to have around?

There are a few, like Akila Dananjaya and Lasith Malinga. They’re all so interesting, always asking questions. Even before going to bed, they ask about how to face a particular ball. I loved working with them, and I have a lot of experience with that group. It’s great to see them doing so well now.

You played in the Indian Premier League with Deccan Chargers. What’s your most striking memory from that time with the franchise?

There were so many exceptional cricketers in that dressing room – Adam Gilchrist, Herschelle Gibbs, Andrew Symonds, Shahid Afridi, Rohit Sharma (who’s gone on to do wonders for Indian cricket), VVS Laxman. Learning and sharing with them taught me so much. We won the IPL title in 2009 in South Africa, playing as a true team. Everyone gave their best when it mattered. Coming from different countries, we became like a family, sharing everything.

Giving due credit: Brook was vocal about McCullum’s contribution as a Test coach.
| Photo Credit: AP

India’s Shreyas Iyer leaves the ground after losing his wicket during the third ODI cricket match between Sri Lanka and India in Colombo, Sri Lanka, Wednesday (Aug. 7, 2024)
| Photo Credit: AP

Gautam Gambhir’s tenure as head coach started promisingly with a 3-0 whitewash of Sri Lanka in the T20Is before his side was shocked in the 50-over format, going down 2-0 in the three-match series.

The conditions in the one-dayers were on the extreme side, considering how spin-friendly the surfaces were, and batting got progressively tricky as the game went by. A case can be made that such pitches are an outlier, and one shouldn’t read too much into the results.

Wake-up call

However, the reverses in the ODIs might be a timely wake-up call to the team management, considering India fielded almost a full-strength side, missing only Jasprit Bumrah and Hardik Pandya.

Gambhir’s big vision for the team indicates that he wants more all-rounders and the batters to roll their arms over. The likes of Shubman Gill and Rohit Sharma bowled a few overs. In last year’s 50-over World Cup, once India lost Hardik, it had only one genuine all-rounder in Ravindra Jadeja and had a long tail. India’s batting depth in this series extended to eight and even nine in the final one-dayer by playing all-rounders Shivam Dube, Washington Sundar and Riyan Parag.

Another aspect evident throughout the tour, in both the T20s and one-dayers, was the preference to have a left-handed and right-handed batter in the middle as much as possible. However, whether the think-tank persists with this remains to be seen.

In terms of individual efforts, Washington and Parag’s bowling were the big positives.

Parag was impressive in the T20s and on his one-day debut, effectively mixing his off- and leg-breaks. Washington, the Player-of-the-Series in Zimbabwe, continued his fine bowling form. He was tight as ever and got more purchase off the surface to give vital breakthroughs in the one-dayers.

Dube got a sustained run in this series to see if he could be an effective back-up for Hardik. But the all-rounder did not set the stage on fire. While his bowling was decent, his inability to close out games through his willow was a let-down. Known for his ability to hit the spinners, Dube failed to do that in challenging conditions.

Rishabh Pant’s return to the one-day set-up in the final game came two years after his life-threatening accident but lasted only nine deliveries. For now, it seems K.L. Rahul, who has been impressive as a middle-order batter in the last few years, will continue to don the big gloves.

Concern

The big concern for the coaching staff will be that the team did not get much headway in answering the question about the third seamer. Arshdeep Singh was unimpressive in the two games and the team couldn’t try out Khaleel Ahmed or Harshit Rana either.

India would have wanted to shore up its resources for a few slots in an otherwise settled one-day set-up. The results, though, were mixed, and management will have plenty to ponder in the near future.