Who Is Anura Tennekoon? The Sri Lankan Cricket Legend Whose Feet Vaibhav Touched In Viral Video

New Delhi: Currently, Indian team's young talent Vaibhav Suryavanshi is on Sri Lanka tour. India is playing the ongoing tri-ODI series between Sri Lanka and Afghanistan A. From there, one of his videos is spreading like wildfire on social media. In the video, Vaibhav is seen touching the feet of former Sri Lankan legend Anura Tennekoon. Since then, curiosity about Anura has increased among the fans. So let's know who he is.

Who is Anura Tennekoon?

Anura Tennekoon is a former Sri Lankan cricketer. He is also the first player to captain Sri Lanka in ODI format at the international level. Anura was born on 20 October 1946 in Anuradhapura. Presently his age is 79 years 230 days. He used to bat with his right hand and bowl with slow left arm orthodox.

How was your international career?

He played only 4 ODI matches for Sri Lanka. Scored 137 runs in 4 innings at an average of 34.25. Among these, his half-century innings of 59 runs was his best score. The numbers are less, but this is from the time when Sri Lanka did not even get Test status. In such a situation, captaincy was a big thing in itself.

What wonders did you do in domestic cricket?

Anura's record in the domestic circuit was quite solid. He played 61 first class and 18 List A matches. Scored 3481 runs in 107 first class innings at an average of 36.26. Scored 274 runs in 16 innings of List A. In the first class, he scored 5 centuries and 19 half-centuries. Scored a fifty in List A. Also took 2 wickets in first class bowling.

Former great of Sri Lanka and one of the finest batters of the country and the captain of the 1st ever World cup in 1975, Anura Tennekoon met a potential future great Vaibhav Sooryavanshi during the Triangular A team series in Dambulla. pic.twitter.com/xYOWMcO6AM

— Roshan Abeysinghe (@RoshanCricket) June 16, 2026

Why did Vaibhav touch the feet?

Vaibhav is only 15 years old, but he has been taught manners. Anura Tennekoon is considered the pioneer of Sri Lankan cricket. As the first ODI captain and a senior cricketer, touching the feet of such a person shows Vaibhav's upbringing. As soon as the video went viral, fans started praising Vaibhav. There was a flood of comments like 'Sanskaar' and 'Izzat'. Even after so much fame at the age of 15, these touching lessons will only make Vaibhav a bigger player in the future.