Ravindu, or is it Duvindu? Tillakaratne twins put everyone in a spin including Virat Kohli

Duvindu and Ravindu are 21-years-old sons of former Sri Lanka captain Hashan Tillakaratane. You could fix up an interview with Duvindu but be speaking to Ravindu instead. The Sri Lankan cricket fraternity is abuzz with the tale of two brothers trying to make a mark in first class-cricket after representing Sri Lanka Under-19 a few years ago.

The confusion in identity abounds though. Once even India captain Virat Kohli was fooled. He was left wondering why one boy was bowling in two different styles of bowling to him. “Two years ago, we both were bowling at the nets and Virat once shouted why I’m trying things and asked me to just bowl what I normally bowl. He didn’t realise that there were two twins at the nets! Later, Ravi Shastri informed Virat that there are two bowlers in the nets, who are twins,” Duvindu recalls. Or was it Ravindu?!

It’s not only the visiting batsmen who mix them up; Duvindu recalls how his own parents used to get confused in the past.

“Sometimes, they used to give the same medicine to the same son twice. Even during feeding, my mother many a times got confused. I might have cried but he might have been fed!”

And there were times when one got a beating without his fault. Ravindu says, “I did something wrong and my father punished him. We have a swimming pool at home and when we were small my parents had told us not to go there alone. I went once and my mom spotted me, and alerted my father. When he came out, Davindu got the bashing.”

Eventually, the mother decided to have an identity mark on one of them. The confusion persisted at school as well. At times, their answer papers were exchanged, to the wrong Tillakaratane. So the school teachers decided to put them in different divisions/classes.

Ravindu and Duvindu at the Colombo cricket ground. (Express Photo)

One of the early coaches the boys had apparently felt they were playing a trick and that there were not two people but just one young trickster. Dhammika Prasad, the pacer known for harassing India’s top order last season, still can’t tell who is who. ”These days, people have started to differentiate us because of cricket. I bat right-handed and bowl slow left-arm orthodox whereas he (Ravindu) is the chinaman,” Duvindu, the elder of the two, says.

Ravindu made his first-class debut last season while Duvindu did it in 2016. However, being a celebrity father’s sons also brings lot of criticism. While Arjun Tendulkar is under media scrutiny in India, the two boys are experiencing the same in Sri Lanka.

Hashan Tillakaratne, former Sri Lanka cricketer, back in 2011. (Express Photo)

When Tillakaratne Sr became the chairman of selectors for the national senior team a few years ago, the twins found a place in the Sri Lankan under-19 squad. Both say, the criticism began then.

“There was talk about how we were picked because we are Hashan Tillakaratane’s sons. We have gone through this,” Duvindu says, and even before he could complete, his younger brother shares: “It’s not easy to be a cricketer’s son because we have to do much more than the others. For instance, somebody has taken four wickets, thae we have to take eight wickets to prove we are good. It’s not easy by any means. It was nice to be a cricketer’s son in the schooldays but once you grow up it becomes serious,” Ravindu says, looking a bit disturbed.

The parents may have had a gut feeling that their two sons will get into cricket. They, after all, had kept their middle name as Sachin, as Tendulkar had visited them just after they were born. But Duvindu says they have no option but to deal with the pressure. “An actor’s son can become an actor but a cricketer’s son can’t be a cricketer,” he says.

As the mood gets a bit serious, I throw the final question: do their girlfriends also get confused? Immense laughter followed, and they just dismiss the query.