Suraj Randiv

Suraj Randiv Picture Credit: Getty Images

Former off-spinner Suraj Randiv, who was a part of the 2011 Sri Lanka's World Cup squad, has been forced to work as a bus driver to earn his bread and butter in life. Apart from Randiv, two other cricketers namely Chinthaka Namaste from Sri Lanka and  Zimbabwe's Waddington Mwayenga have also resorted to working as bus drivers in Australia for a transport company called Transdev. Originally, the company is from France and the three migrant cricketers have started working at their Melbourne branch in Australia.

The three cricketers do play local club cricket in their respective nations but due to the lack of lucrative opportunities in cricket, they’ve made the decision to move to Australia and work as bus drivers.

Suraj Randiv has represented Sri Lanka in 12 Test matches, scalping 43 wickets at an economy of 3.07 along with scoring 147 runs at an average of 9.2. As far as limited-overs format is concerned, the spinner has featured in 31 one-day internationals and 7 T20Is, picking up 36 and 7 wickets respectively at an economy of 5.06 and 6.61.

The bowler currently represents Dandenong Cricket Club in Melbourne, which is affiliated with Victoria Premier Cricket and also plays in Australian State cricket. A few Australian cricketers, including James Pattinson, Peter Siddle and Sarah Elliot have played for the same cricket club in the past. Notably, Randiv was also invited by the Australian management to come and bowl at the Australian batters in the nets to prepare for Australia’s home series against India that the hosts lost by 2-1.

"I was asked by CA (Cricket Australia) to come and bowl against their bowlers and I didn’t want to miss the opportunity," Randiv revealed in a video uploaded by 9 News. As far as Namaste and Mwayenga are concerned, the former had represented Sri Lanka in 5 T20Is, scoring 49 runs while the latter was a medium-fast bowler for Zimbabwe, playing a solitary Test and three ODIs during 2005 and 2006. The three migrants are hoping that public transports can also have their respective cricket teams in the future and they can represent them while working as bus drivers.