Sanath Jayasuriya

Sanath Jayasuriya has been at the vanguard of Sri Lanka's ascent as a cricketing power, and his rise as a feared international batsman has coincided with Sri Lanka's rise as a force to be reckoned with in international cricket.

Jayasuriya started his career as a fairly non-descript utility player who had an ability to smack the ball hard. His performances stayed ordinary for much of his early career. In fact, from his debut in 1989 till 1995, Jayasuriya had never ended a year with an average above 30 in ODIs and had played only a handful of Tests.

The year 1996 was the break-out year for Jayasuriya, and he took the cricketing world by storm with his exploits in the 1996 World Cup. Taking advantage of the fielding restrictions in the first 15 overs of an innings had been in vogue since a while, with Martin Crowe using Mark Greatbatch to good effect in the 1992 World Cup, but Jayasuriya took it to another level. In a remarkable statistic, from the year 1996 onwards, Jayasuriya never ended a calendar year with a strike rate of less than 83, and frequently achieved 100+ rates.

He was also a more than useful left-arm spinner, who was uncannily difficult to score off, and also picked up wickets. He brought a complete package to the ODI game with his smart fielding at any position, and his performance in the 1996 World Cup led to him being named the Most Valuable Player of the tournament.

Jayasuriya wasn't done yet, and in the tournament immediately following the Cup at Singapore, he smashed the fastest ODI century -- off 48 balls (subsequently bettered by Shahid Afridi) and the fastest ODI fifty -- off 17 balls. (which still stands).

Jayasuriya proved he was no One-Day wonder, by scoring big in Test matches too. He made a mammoth 340 against India in 1997, and a quickfire 213 against England at the Oval the following year that saw Sri Lanka win the match.

He was also appointed the captain of the Sri Lankan team, but captaincy seemed to weigh his batting down, and he eventually resigned after the 2003 World Cup.

After that his spot in the side was questioned by some, but he silenced the doubters with a stellar year in 2004, where he average 56.50 in Tests.
However, his Test form tapered off after that and in 2007, Jayasuriya retired from Test cricket to focus on the limited overs-versions.

He is only the second man to have scored over 13,000 runs in ODIs, and he has got those runs at a strike rate of over 90. He also has 322 wickets in ODIs, with four 5-wicket hauls and stands 9th on the list of all-time wicket-takers in ODIs. With those kind of figures, he is certainly the greatest one-day cricketer produced by Sri Lanka, and can lay legitimate claim to being amongst the greatest ever one-day exponents in the world.

He announced his retirement in 2006 only to take a U-turn. He finally hung up his Test boots in Kandy in 2007, whist still proceeding to flay bowlers in colours. He was one of the pillars of Sri Lanka's World Cup campaign, churning out 467 runs at a typically breezy rate.

Jayasuriya carried on his merry way, often flashing back to the Matara Mauler of the old in his bumper 2008 IPL stint, wherein he slammed 514 runs before firing Sri Lanka to Asia Cup success the same year. He made the provisional 30-member squad for the 2011 World Cup but had to pave way for the fresh legs of Upul Tharanga. The reflexes dimmed, powers waned and runs dried, as the selectors pulled the plug.

Sanath Jayasuriya though bounced back to earn a recall for Sri Lanka's tour to England in 2011. Jayasuriya brought the curtains down on a decorated career after the opening ODI at Oval. Following his walk into the international sunset, he continued to actively feature in T20 Leagues across the globe.

Jayasuriya associated himself with politics even during his playing days. Notably, he was elected to the Parliament in 2010. A foray into Cricket Administration ensued when Jayasuriya was appointed as the Chairman of selectors in 2013 by SLC.

by Saurabh Somani and Deivarayan Muthu