Happy Birthday Sanath Jayasuriya: Top moments from his iconic career

The superstar southpaw from Sri Lanka, Sanath Jayasuriya, is undoubtedly one of the greatest batsmen to have graced the game of cricket. He redefined batting at the top-order with his revolutionary idea of power-hitting in the early stages of an innings.

The sheer power, coupled with his near-flawless stroke-play, made him a nightmare for the opposition teams. He sits fourth on the all-time run-makers’ table, with well over 20,000 international runs. Also a very useful bowler, Jayasuriya was very effective with his left-arm orthodox bowling. He is one of the only five spin bowlers so far, to have a wicket-tally of more than 300 in the ODIs.

If the ball was pitched outside the line of off-stump, it would be smashed between third-man and cover. If the ball was pitched near middle-stump, it would fly between fine-leg and mid-wicket.

The margin of error when Sanath Jayasuriya was batting was so tiny!

The Sri Lankan legend revolutionized the approach taken by batsmen in the first 15 overs in ODI cricket. Instead of trying to see off the new ball, Sanath wanted to score as much as possible during the field restrictions - a game-plan he used during the 1996 World Cup with amazing results and because of which, Sri Lanka won the tournament, much to the surprise of many.

During his magnificent career of 22 years, Sanath has had some very memorable moments across his career. Let's take a look at some of those:

Jayasuriya working his way against an Indian attack

#1 340 vs India, 1st Test, India in Sri Lanka, 1997

When India won the toss on a sunny day at Colombo and decided to bat first, no one felt anything much. At the end of two days' play, when the Indian total stood at 537 for 8, courtesy of impressive knocks from Sachin Tendulkar and Mohammad Azharuddin, people started feeling that the game was going to result in favour of the visitors.

But little did they know of what was to follow, which can be described using nothing short of the phrase "out-of-the-world".

In the next two days, just one wicket fell, and by the end of the remaining time as well, Sri Lanka stood at a mind-boggling total of 952 for 6 - the highest Test innings score ever - a record still unbroken, and one that might never be broken. And at the heart of it was Sanath Jayasuriya as the tormentor-in-chief.

Jayasuriya came out all guns blazing and fired 340 runs and also accounted for the then highest Test partnership of 576 runs with compatriot Roshan Mahanama.

The historic scoreboard

The highest individual Test innings knock by a batsman was the 375 scored by Brian Lara (he himself bettered it later, scoring 400 not out). Jayasuriya was dismissed for just 35 runs short of the existing record, but he still made history that day with his marathon innings.

When Sanath bowled

#2 6 for 29 vs England, 2nd ODI, England in Sri Lanka, 1993

During the initial stages of his career, Jayasuriya was better utilised as a bowler who could bat a bit. Later he transformed himself into a top-order batsman but his bowling continued to be very effective as his tally of 421 international wickets places him in the league of best all-rounders.

Four years after his ODI debut, at a period earlier than when he first started getting known for his ballistic approach with the willow, it was in the second ODI of the England tour of Sri Lanka at Moratuwa that Jayasuriya ripped apart the English attack with his guile and recorded his finest performance with figures of six for 29 in 9.5 overs.

Hardly a front-line bowler then, the slow-left arm spinner in young Jayasuriya snapped two crucial partnerships and ran down the rest of the order for 6 for 29, ending up as the star performer of a very weak attack. England were literally taken to pieces at a mere score of 180 and Sri Lanka won the encounter convincingly by eight wickets. It was Jayasuriya's first Man-of-the-Match performance.

Jayasuriya would go on to make several match-winning scalps later on in his career as well, but this one game would easily go into the best moments of the cricketer's career.

Sanath on his way to the fastest 50 of his time in ODIs, against Pakistan

#3. Fastest 50, 100, 150 in ODIs

Sanath Jayasuriya was the predecessor of South African legend Ab de Villiers, as the only person before him to hold all three records - fastest 50, 100 and 150 in ODIs - before him. Though he eventually lost all three records to others who in turn lost it to de Villiers, it must be remembered that Sanath had these moments in the 1990s and 2000s, an era where field restrictions and new-balls were absent, making him one of the batsmen of all times.

Jayasuriya hit a 17-ball fifty in 1996 against Pakistan, which remained the record until de Villiers got there in 16 against West Indies in 2015. In the same tournament in 1996, Jayasuriya became the first man to score an ODI ton in under 50 balls —getting to the milestone in 48, also making him the fastest to get to a ton, in terms of the number of balls faced. Since then, the record fell to Shahid Afridi (37 balls) and later Corey Anderson (36 balls), before de Villiers claimed it with a 31-ball ton, the same game where he made the fastest 50.

In 2006, Jayasuriya got to his 150 off only 95 balls against England, which was the fastest 150 at the time. Shane Watson bettered it by getting there in 83 balls against Bangladesh in 2011. De Villiers though had the last laugh as he achieved the mark in 64 balls against the West Indies at Sydney this year.

The numbers, which are excellent even by today's standards, hold testimony to the heavy influence that Jayasuriya had with the bat in his time.

Capable of grabbing the entire opposition by the tail

#4. 253 v Pakistan, Faisalabad, 2004

Jayasuriya's 253 in the second innings of the first Test match against Pakistan of the 2004 series, set up a 201-run win for the visitors. It was a seminal knock that made amends for Sri Lanka's first-innings collapse and gave them complete command of the game on the third day.

Winning the toss, Sri Lanka elected to bat first, but no one except Thilan Samaraweera who scored a hundred, justified captain Atapattu's decision as the Islanders were bundled out for a mere 243. Jayasuriya scored 38. Pakistan in reply started well but faltered towards the end, still ending with an innings lead of 21 runs. Sri Lanka needed to score big and fast, considering that only three days' were left, and with bowling becoming harder towards the end. And all of the responsibility suddenly fell on Jayasuriya.

He grafted his way and strung together crucial stands along the way as Sri Lanka took a 417-run lead in return, scoring 438. Contrary to usual, this wasn't a swashbuckling innings from the opener. After being out to a Shoaib Akhtar no-ball on 9, Jayasuriya survived a few jittery edges and slashes to buckle down.

He slowly steadied the balance back with some peachy off-drives and light pushes, and by the end of the fourth day he reached his third double-hundred. He almost single-handedly helped Sri Lanka finish, scoring 253 out of the 438, all by himself. In return, Pakistan could muster just 201, as Sri Lanka scripted a memorable win by 216 runs.

Sunil Joshi bowling to Jayasuriya in the Coca-Cola cup finals

#5. 189 v India, Sharjah, 2000

The finals of the Coca Cola Champions Trophy in Sharjah could not have been any more one-sided than it turned out to be. In fact, few other games have been this one-sided in the history of the sport itself. That being said, nor could Jayasuriya have been any better in the ODI arena. This is arguably the best that the Sri Lankan southpaw has ever produced and in turn became the architect for the eventual win as well.

Sri Lanka were 116 for 4 in the 28th over, looking like they will score somewhere in 200-220, but fate changed with the main man still there. Together with Russell Arnold, who appeared to exert a calming influence on his captain, Jayasuriya rescued the innings. Arnold nudged the ball around to try and get Jayasuriya on strike as much as possible, and Jayasuriya in turn, timed his shots skilfully and pushed the run-flow forward.

Slowly he reached his century, and suddenly it was as if someone wound a key inside him. He then ran amok, scoring 89 more runs from 43 more balls and took the game away from India. His iron wrists and bulging forearms created immense power in his shots and he hit four sixes and 21 boundaries in total. The final scoreline read 299 for 5, out of which 189 was Sanath's contribution.

India had one of the most disappointing returns in its ODI cricket history as they fell for a mere 54 runs, also handing Sri Lanka the record of largest ever ODI win of 245 runs (broken later) and largest ever ODI win in a tournament final (still unbroken), as Jayasuriya yet again emerged the match-winner.