Shehan Karunatilake's debut novel, Chinaman, despite being set in Sri Lanka, introduces the reader to the island nation's obsession with cricket like never before. Narrated with inimitable wit and seamless wordplay, a wasted sports journalist and a mysterious spinner act as catalysts in a plot that crisscrosses the country's socio-economic and cultural fabric

By the time you read this, the Indian team would probably be warming up for their first outing in the 2011 edition of the World Cup against previous World Cup nemesis, Bangladesh. While India will be rooting for the Men in Blue throughout this sporting extravaganza, neighbouring Sri Lanka will be doing the same for their Lankan Lions.

Sri Lankan cricket fans celebrate their team's win in a World Cup 2007
semi-final match against New Zealand in Colombo on 25 April 2007.
Sri Lanka were World Cup champions in 1996. Pic/AFP

Chinaman, set in Sri Lanka, is a novel for universal lovers of cricket and highly recommended for newbies who've stayed away from the gentleman's game. The quest of a has-been sports journalist to track down the elusive spin wizard, Pradeep Mathew will take the reader through a fascinating, most imaginative rollercoaster across stadium locker rooms, gossip-filled booze parties and
LTTE bunkers.

We caught up with the author Shehan Karunatilake to recall this entertaining journey while writing, what the Sunday Times called, "The first genuine contender for the title of the Great Sri Lankan Novel."u00a0

From where did the germ of this idea originate?
From hours spent dreaming about playing for Sri Lanka and hours spent not practicing. Pradeep (Mathew) began as a teenage fantasy before I found out that he was real.
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Did you base your protagonist WG Karunasena on a particular personality or was he created from a collection of observations and individuals?
I interviewed lots of uncles, grandfathers and drunks to gather anecdotes on cricket. While it's possible that I subconsciously merged the mannerisms of these subjects to construct WG, he soon became his own man. I don't know where he came from, but I'm glad he dropped by.