Sanath Jayasuriya – A Cricketing Legend

The legend Sri Lankan cricketer Sanath Jayasuriya will play one more Twenty20 and a one-day international in England before finally retiring from the cricketing world. He is  42 and the oldest player in international cricket, took the unusual step of entering politics while still playing professionally, getting elected to parliament on the ticket of President Mahinda Rajapaksa’s Sri Lanka Freedom Party. Although he was not picked for ICC World Cup, he has no regrets about it.

Sanath Teran Jayasuriya was born on 30 June 1969, all-rounder, he has been a member of the Sri Lankan cricket team since 1989. He is the only player to score more than 13,000 runs and capture more than 300 wickets in One Day International cricket. He is regarded as one of the best all-rounder’s in the history of the game. He ran for public office at the 2010 Sri Lankan general elections and was elected to parliament from his native Matara District.

A look at his records:

Sanath Jayasuriya holds a very unique record by a single cricket player, he has the fastest fifty (against Pakistan 17 balls) fastest 100 and fastest 150 (against England in 95 balls) in ODI cricket. Though he lost the fastest 100 to Shahid Afridi, he still holds the other two records. Jayasuriya and Sachin Tendulkar are the only players in history to have 4 ODI scores over 150. Along with partner Romesh Kaluwitharana, Jayasuriya revolutionized One Day International batting with his aggressive tactics during the 1996 Cricket World Cup, a strategy they first tried on the preceding tour of Australia. He is currently the second highest run scorer in ODIs with 13,428 runs. (Sachin Tendulkar is first with 18,111). He is currently the third highest centurion in ODIs with 28 under his belt (only Ponting (30) and Tendulkar (48) have more). Jayasuriya has second most Man of the Match awards (48) in ODI cricket after Sachin Tendulkar (62). He was also the first player to play in 400 ODIs matches. He is the third batsman in Test cricket to hit 6 fours in one over. He did this against England in his last Test innings.

He was a surprising inclusion in the Sri Lanka squad for the forthcoming one-day series, reportedly after the intervention of the Sri Lankan government. He then sprang a surprise of his own by announcing he would only play in a Twenty20 match against England and the first of the five ODIs. At 41 years and 363 days, he will be only the 18th oldest player to have appeared in an ODI. The oldest is Nolan Clarke, who was born in Barbados and opened the batting for Holland in the 1996 World Cup. He was 47 years and 257 days when he made 32 against South Africa.

Sri Lanka all-rounder Sanath Jayasuriya has been recalled to the national ODI and Twenty20 side for the upcoming series against England. Sanath Jayasuriya has announced that he will retire from international cricket after Sri Lanka’s first ODI against England on June 28 at the Oval.

Tags: Cricket, Cricketer, England, Legend, Player, Sanath Jayasuriya, Sri Lanka