Pushpakumara went into the match at the Colts Cricket Club Ground with 998 wickets under his belt. Badureliya Sports Club captain Geeth Kumara won the toss, opted to bat, and scored 185 to help his side post 486 as Chanuka Dilshan returned 5-81.
Moors Sports Club finished the second day on 159-4. Having snared wicketkeeper Sohan de Livera, Pushpakumara had moved on to 999. On the third morning, he bowled Pasindu Sooriyabandara to become the 218th bowler and fourth Sri Lankan, after Muttiah Muralidaran (1,374), Rangana Herath (1,080), and Dinuka Hettiarachchi (1,001), to reach the 1,000-wicket milestone.
A salient feature of Pushpakumara’s career is the fact that he never played first-class in England: in this, he is only the second player from any country to take 1,000 wickets, after Hettiarachchi.
Pushpakumara also has one of the best strike rates in the 1,000-wicket club. When he reached the milestone, he was 11th on the all-time list. None of the bowlers with better strike rates than him played played after the First World War.
Pushpakumara also holds the best first-class figures on Sri Lankan soil when in 2018/19, he became the second bowler (after Pramodya Wickramasinghe) to take all ten wickets in an innings.
