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Revolutions per second through the air is the big thing Keshara Nuwantha has going for him at first blush. Sri Lanka's debutant offspinner is not the finished product just yet. But there is potential here, and his promise revolves around the revolution. Like the moon orbits Earth, which in turn orbits the Sun. If you didn't quite follow all that, relax. This is a story about spin bowling. Some confusion is apt. Necessary even. To take the wicket of Ravindra Jadeja, Nuwantha spun a few away from the left hander, and then slipped in a beautifully-flighted straighter one to ping Jadeja in front of leg stump. Confusion is one foundational tenet of this medium. Jadeja reviewed but it proved futile. And having taken his third wicket in his maiden Test innings, Nuwantha had made his mark at the top level. On day two, he presented a case to justify his selection. It was a pretty strong case. Nuwantha was a slightly left-field choice for the series against India. Before this match, he had no more than 64 first-class wickets from 15 matches. But his first-class average of 22.12 is outstanding, and captain Dhananjaya de Silva was sufficiently impressed. Nuwantha is extremely light on experience, and is not exceptionally young at age 25. But spinners mature later than other cricketers. And as the stories of Varun Chakravarthy and Usman Tariq suggest, their journeys can start later in life. Spin bowlers can come from anywhere. What Nuwantha has going for him at present is the work he puts on the ball. His is not an especially energetic action, but it does seem to be an efficient one, feet, legs, spine, and arms seeming to direct force up into his right index finger to produce revolutions that translate into dip and turn, and if he angles the seam nicely, even a little bit of drift. Of the spinners Sri Lanka have trialed in the last decade, he is perhaps the most attacking since Tharindu Kaushal. In spin bowling terms, this could be a player with a higher ceiling than others Sri Lanka have introduced in Tests. Senior spinner Prabath Jayasuriya agrees. "I think Keshara has a big future," he said. "It's not easy to play against India in your first Test, because they are a strong team and the rankings show that. But he deserves the chance to take on that challenge, and he has potential." Many rookie Sri Lanka spinners have had "potential" before, but what separates Nuwantha is the turn he gets. Both Rishabh Pant and KL Rahul were dismissed by balls they did not expect to spin as much as they did. Nuwantha was expensive right through day one and two, conceding 4.48 runs an over across the 39 overs he bowled. But when his hard-spun deliveries landed right, they ruffled batters. "He's very new to both international cricket and even first-class cricket," Jayasuriya said. "He's got a lot going for his bowling though. It's the consistency that he has to work at. But that is very much something you can fix." Nuwantha was especially guilty of pitching short in this innings, but then he is on debut. On flat tracks, against batters accustomed to spin bowling, these are things you can forgive. His next objective will be to lower his average in the second innings. Promise might get you picked but it is wickets that win matches. Nuwantha wasn't quite a match-winning bowler in this match so far. But he did offer a vision of a player who could potentially become a match-winning bowler. For now that is probably enoough.