I have reached a age where I cannot be called young and some kids will defiantly call me ‘Buddha’, but I still feel young at heart and one of the reasons I feel so is because I remember what it was like to be young and appreciate the achievement of the young. Why am I harping about age today because of yesterday’s match. Asia Cup match between India and Sri Lanka.

It was the performance of Dunith Wellalage which gave me such joy. India won and we were happy enough about it, but it was his performance which stood out. He bowled like a dream, batted till he was the last man standing and caught with a glee which is only possible in the young, while running around in the field.

It’s almost impossible not to love a 20-year-old. And I am not saying it because my daughter is 20 years old. On the blank white canvas of their life, you can project your own dreams for them. He is too fresh to have done anything to offend you, too new to have to perform to certain standards, and just too unsullied by experience to be saddled with concepts such as consistency, and responsibility, which so stultify our adult life.

As for the stats, he took 5 for 40 from 10 overs; scored 42 of 46 balls, remains unbeaten and hitting the only six of Sri Lankan innings, and took two catches to top off a memorable day. But the figures do not do justice to this performance. A boy of 20 born well into this century hoodwinked Virat Kohli, Rohit Sharma, KL Rahul, Shubman Gill, and Hardik Pandya. True it was a turning pitch and the kind of surface where the coach tells you to put the ball on right spot and let the pitch do the rest. But this was the same pitch where Axar Patel bowled his five overs for 29 (Both are left arm spinners), Kuldeep Yadav took 4 wickets but two of them were of number 10 and 11. The Indian batsmen were the seniors and it is always more fun to watch the young cricketers be the underdog, and still land the ball in the right spot. While batting he took on Jadeja and Kuldeep on the same pitch, hitting them for three 4 and the only six of the innings. He was stranded on 42 which can happen when you bat at number 8, but on current form he should start batting higher soon.

His post-match interview was a mixture of naivety and honesty (is it ever different). No, he wasn’t really thinking about getting wickets but bowling wicket to wicket. No, he was not trying to win the match but supporting the senior players. No wonder his was the only name chanted by the crowd in this match. “Walla, Walla, Walla”.

Performance like these remind you why you watch this game and continue to love it. It raises you from the drudgery of your everyday life, given to routine and targets, and allows you to take joy from the performance of a 20-year-old. Because at this stage of your life you don’t want to be him exactly, there is no envy here but joy. Joy of youth that tells you that such lives are still possible, dreams are still being chased, and that there is someone some whare, whose achievement do not yet have a limit.

It is Wellalage, ultimately, who will decide the heights of his own life and career. But soon, the space for our own projections will disappear. We will start having expectations and will expect him to fulfill those. Will he rise above them or sink only he will decide (remember Anjanta Mendis). But meanwhile the rest of us can still revel in his youthful exuberance and the joy youth brings to us.