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.

The ball popped up from Kapil Dev’s tentative bat. The bowler, with that distinctive white headband over dark curly hair, dove to his right, in front of the umpire, and took the catch, one-handed, ending the captain’s gritty knock of 78. Sri Lanka thus completed its first-ever Test victory, in Colombo in 1985, against a strong Indian side.

That was Rumesh Ratnayake’s ninth wicket of the match. The quick ended up playing 23 Tests and 70 ODIs, claiming 149 wickets in all. The 62-year-old has also had a memorable stint coaching the Sri Lankan women, guiding them to series victories in England and South Africa, as well as an Asia Cup triumph, beating India in the final. Excerpts from an exclusive interview Ratnayake gave The Hindu at Thiruvananthapuram during Sri Lanka’s T20I series against India:

How do you look back at that Test in Colombo four decades ago? Sri Lanka also went on to win that series, in which Sunil Gavaskar batted in the middle-order.

Yes, and I got him out a few times. India had a fabulous batting line-up, with Mohinder Amarnath and Dilip Vengsarkar, Kapil Dev and Ravi Shastri. I remember Vengsarkar had this lazy elegance about him. He had sleepy eyes, but would do so much damage with his bat. I think it was a fantastic series. We all knew we had a chance. And those wickets were also conducive to pace. Because our strength was pace at that time. If it was against Pakistan, it would have been a different story.

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You were part of a good pace attack with Ashantha de Mel and Saliya Ahangama.

And we had a young leg-spinner Sanjeewa Weerasinghe, who sadly played only one Test, which we won.

You had figures of four for 76 and five for 49.

That Test match is sort of engraved in my mind. And people throw it back all the time, even now. Somehow, once a week I get a video; somebody will send it from somewhere. Unfortunately, that match was not videoed fully. But when the government knew that we had a chance of winning on the fifth day, they sent a television crew.

How much did that Test win mean to the Sri Lankan team and the country at that time?

It meant a lot. Our President, J.R. Jayewardene, gave a holiday the next day. He had played cricket, you know, for his school.

You bowled at good pace, and had some memorable Test spells in England, Australia, New Zealand…

My ambition was to bowl as fast as I could, to be the fastest bowler. But those days we didn’t have as many opportunities, such as videos, to learn from. So my university was the fast-bowlers of the era. I would talk to them.

I still remember the advice I got from Richard Hadlee, who was such a phenomenal bowler. He bowled like the wind. He was so smooth, it was unbelievable. He is the one who told me about fast-bowling being all about rhythm. I remember him telling me, ‘You have bowled faster than me and you are asking me.’ I was just 18 then. And I remember asking him, ‘Richard, but what do you think I need to do?’ He said, ‘Rumesh, just think of your rhythm. Think of your timing.’ That was the first time I was hearing of the timing of the ball — when you release the ball.

I also looked up to Michael Holding, Jeff Thomson and Dennis Lillee. And Kapil also has been a favourite. And what a batter he was, too! We used to talk about how he hits the ball. He used to have this shot, which he would play on the up. It would go past the mid-off and extra-cover. He would sort of glide it. And sometimes the shot would be too late for the mid-off. But it’s near the extra-cover. And bang, it’s gone!

But if you ask me who the best fast-bowler I have ever seen or faced is, it is Wasim Akram. He was everything a fast-bowler needed to be. He had swing, pace, seam… He was a complete fast-bowler.

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And the bowlers that you enjoy watching today?

Mitchell Starc is lovely to watch. He has a lovely rhythm, super timing. And Pat Cummins, too.

When you took over as coach, the Sri Lankan women’s team hadn’t been doing well. You began your tenure with a victory over host South Africa in the 2023 T20 World Cup, then won T20I series in England and South Africa and stunned India in the Asia Cup final.

Sri Lanka Cricket’s CEO Ashley de Silva asked me whether I was interested in taking up the position because Hashan Tillakaratne was leaving. At that point of time I said, ‘No, I haven’t ever coached women.’ Besides, Hashan is my friend and I didn’t want to take his job, but he left and joined Bangladesh. So I accepted the offer and when I went for their training and saw them practising, I realised, ‘Man, this is a team I can grow with’.

But I found there were a lot of negatives in the system, especially with the girls. I believe that if you give them confidence, if you create an environment in which they can learn, I am sure they will grow. And I saw in the first match we played against South Africa, we beat them, and remember that team went on to play the final. Our next match was Bangladesh. We beat them. So we were on a sort of a roll. Then we lost…

How do you recall those early days as coach?

I believe in creating the right kind of environment, and it is about saying the right thing at the right time. And no negatives were spoken. If someone bowled a bad ball, I wouldn’t say, ‘What a rubbish ball that is!’ Not that they did not make mistakes or miss catches. They missed catches, but they knew I was backing them for the next catch, or the next moment.

We spoke of winning the ball, winning the moments. If you can’t hit a six, try for a four, and if you can’t get hit a four, look for a one or a two. And I took the individual aspect away. Five-wicket hauls did not matter. Everybody chipping in at the right time mattered more. Nothing makes the coach happier. I didn’t care for a batter’s fifty. I would give her six or seven balls when she is on 40. I took inspiration from the New Zealand rugby team, the All Blacks, where nobody is bigger than the team. The Australian cricket team is also like that.

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In this series, your last of this stint as coach, Sri Lanka showed a lot of spirit in the last two T20Is, but lost 0-5.

Yes, the girls fought hard, and regardless of the result, it was a great experience for them, playing against the Indian side that won the ODI World Cup recently.

Women’s cricket is becoming more popular…

The game is evolving fast. I think some of the sixes you see in women’s cricket today are almost as big as the ones that were scored by the men 30 years ago.