After hundreds of practice sessions and many sacrifices, an opportunity to represent the country is bound to be exhilarating. And there are very few things for a cricketer that is better than the joy of scoring a hundred or bagging a five-wicket haul on debut.
But playing the longest format of the game against quality sides could be equally nerve-wracking. And a pair of ducks or a long, tiring, wicketless outing with the ball on debut could damage a player beyond repair.
While a few fail to recover from the heartbreaks and vanish into oblivion, there are some who endure them and become the greats of the game. Over the years Sri Lanka has produced few terrific test players. The likes of Arjuna Ranatunga, Chaminda Vaas, Muttiah Muralitharan, and Mahela Jayawardene have lit the cricketing world with their unmatched skills and inspiring performances.
All legends end their careers with incredible numbers and records, but not all of them had starts that were encouraging.
Here’s a list of five such Sri Lankan players who had poor Test debuts but went on to have great careers.
#5 Aravinda De Silva
Performance on debut: 16 and 3 against England, 1984
The belligerent right-hander, Aravinda De Silva, is one of the finest batsmen that Sri Lanka has produced. But he had a rather disappointing start to his career as he got out caught behind for 16 and 3 on his debut. But he wasn’t disheartened by the failure, and scored a promising fifty in his third match.
He faced lot of criticism early in his career as he often failed to capitalise on good starts. But, the Sri Lankan superstar quickly learnt the art of building an innings and became a vital cog in the batting line up.
Test career stats
MAT | RUNS | AVG | 100 |
93 | 6361 | 42.98 | 20 |
The flamboyant batsman scored his maiden hundred against Pakistan in 1985. His innings of 122 came in testing conditions against a quality bowling attack and was a sign of things to come.
#4 Kumar Sangakkara
Performance on debut: 23 against South Africa, 2000
Flawless cover drives, captivating on drives, pleasing flicks and authoritative pulls, add to that the elegance of a left-hander – Kumar Sangakkara was an important player for Sri Lanka and mesmerising to watch.
The Sri Lankan played 134 matches and amassed a whopping 12,400 runs, the most runs by a Sri Lankan in Test matches. However, he didn’t have the most ideal start to his career. His highest score in his first six innings was 25.
Test Career Stats
MAT | RUNS | AVG | 100 |
134 | 12400 | 57.40 | 38 |
The southpaw scored his maiden test ton in his 10th match. In a career lasting 15 years, the classy left-hander scored 38 hundreds, 11 double hundreds and a scintillating triple hundred. The stylish batsman drew curtains on his illustrious career in 2015 at P Sara Oval, Colombo.
Scoring runs in all conditions, the Sri Lankan wicketkeeper-batsman was one of the most successful players of his era and a great ambassador of the game.
#3 Hashan Tillakaratne
Performance on debut: 0 and 6 against Australia, 1989
One of the finest Sri Lankan Test batsmen, Tillakaratne, possessed tremendous patience and an excellent temperament. But the start he had in international cricket wasn’t a memorable one. Making his debut against Australia in Hobart, he scored 0 and 6 in the first and second innings, respectively.
The left-hander got a duck in the third outing, but a gritty 55 against a quality Indian attack in the same match gave him the impetus to push on and forge a remarkable career.
Test career stats
MAT | RUNS | AVG | 100 |
83 | 4545 | 42.88 | 11 |
Batting at No. 5 or No. 6 for the most part of his career, the left-hander from Colombo provided stability to the batting line-up with his consistent performances. He scored his first hundred in his 30th match and went on to add 10 more to the tally over the years.
After featuring in 83 matches, he aggregated 4545 runs at an impressive average of 42.87. Any batsman who played in an era where the cricketing world saw quite a few legendary Test bowlers, would be proud of those numbers.
#2 Chaminda Vaas
Performance on debut: 0 for 80 against Pakistan, 1994
One of the greats of the game, Vaas, had a disappointing debut as he bowled 22 overs without a wicket. But he showed glimpses of his talent in the very next match where he picked up 4 for 74 in 37 overs.
The Lankan workhorse was a nightmare for batsmen on seamer friendly wickets. He had the perfect in-swinger and was particularly good against right-handers. Operating around the 130kmph mark, the medium pacer was one of the best new ball bowlers of the modern era.
Test career stats
MAT | WKTS | AVG | BEST |
111 | 355 | 29.58 | 7/71 |
He took a hat-trick off the first three deliveries of the match against Bangladesh in the 2003 ICC Cricket World Cup. Notably, all the victims were right-handers. He also ended the tournament as the most successful bowler with 23 wickets.
He has impressive numbers even at home where the pitches are predominately spin friendly. Out of the 111 matches Vaas played in, 56 matches were at home and picked up 180 scalps. The medium pacer ended his career as the third highest wicket-taker for Sri Lanka with 355 wickets.
#1 Marvan Atapattu
Performance on debut: 0 and 0 against India, 1990
Representing his country at a young age of 20 must have been a great feeling for Atapattu, but his joy was cut short when he was out caught behind for a duck in his very first innings. Things went from bad to worse in the second innings as he was out LBW of a Kapil Dev delivery, again for zero.
He then returned two years later, but failed yet again as he scored 0 and 1. Fast forward another two years, and the right-hander got another pair in the third match for his country. Interestingly, the one run that he scored was a leg bye, but, much to the relief of the top order batsman, the umpire gave it as runs.
Test career stats
MAT | RUNS | AVG | 100 |
90 | 5502 | 39.02 | 16 |
The classy batsman had to wait six years to score his second run in Test cricket, but what followed was an illustrious career. Atapattu scored 5502 runs in 156 innings with 16 hundreds and 6 double hundreds to his name. He also went on to captain the Lankan Test team in 18 matches, winning eight and drawing four of those.
The next time you are staring at a failure or a possible rejection, think of Attapattu.
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