Former Sri Lankan cricketer Upul Chandana runs a shop to meet ends

There have been many stories of ‘rags to riches’ and the other way around but nothing comes so close in the lucrative game of cricket, especially if you have played international cricket. Once a familiar face in the Sri Lankan line-up, spinner Upul Chandana now runs a cricket shop to earn his bread and butter.

Chandana has named the shop after him, and it is located inside the Nondescripts Cricket Club. Apart from cricket gears, the shop offers table tennis equipment and jogging shoes too. Chandana came up with the idea after not finding too many quality shops in the locality.

“There are so many cricket clubs around and there weren’t too many good sports stores in the locality. So I thought I’ll start one,” Chandana was quoted as saying by Indian Express.

The downfall began when Chandana joined the Indian Cricket League. He was eventually banned by the SLC and to add agony to it, he didn’t even receive the complete amount that was mentioned in the contract.

“In my childhood in Galle, we played with one ball for months. There was no sports store and we had little money. Even the schools couldn’t afford it. The first time I held a cricket ball, my fingers almost went inside the ball. It was almost two separate pieces. So I decided one day when I grow up I’d open a sports store,” he further explained his stance.

Chandana has troubled many a batter, and went on to play 147 ODIs and 16 Test matches.The leggie scalped 151 wickets in limited overs cricket at an average of 31.90, while in Test matches, the 45-year old picked up 37 wickets at an economy of 3.43. Chandana mostly played in the shadows of legendary Muttiah Muralitharan, but the ability to bat down the order, provided him many breaks. The Sri Lankan has 1627 runs in One-Dayers at a strike rate of 72.99.