Retired sportswriter, w.g. karunasena is dying. He will spend his final months drinking arrack, upsetting his wife, ignoring his son, and tracking down Pradeep S. Mathew, an elusive spinbowler he considers ‘the greatest cricketer to walk the earth’.

On his quest to find this unsung genius, w.g. uncovers a coach with six fingers, a secret bunker belowa famous stadium, an ltte warlord, and startling truths about sri lanka, cricket, and himself.