As Tillakaratne Dilshan walked out to bat for one final time in his final T20 International career, the steely glint in the opener's eyes gave an inkling that he was seeking runs in his fearless way.
The guard of honour from his team-mates would have made even the spirited opener feel a few butterflies in his stomach. Dilshan jabbed at a few deliveries, a far cry from the 39-year-old's halcyon days when he would unerringly find gaps with a flurry of boundaries.
The end came abruptly when he toe-ended a short and wide delivery to David Warner at first slip. As the Colombo crowd bade a teary goodbye to the great Sri Lankan, one was left with nothing but to recollect from the nostalgic memories.
With Dilshan having played his final match for Sri Lanka, let’s recount some of his timeless feats across frontiers and formats:
1) 193, England v Sri Lanka, Lord's 2011
When Dilshan took guard at the sacred turf of Lord's in 2011, the visitors had a mountain to climb as England had notched up a sizeable 486 in their first innings. However, Dilshan led from the front with a century to balm their wounded pride after the trio of Stuart Broad, Graeme Swann and Chris Tremlett had infused a dramatic collapse in the first Test in Cardiff to send Sri Lanka hurtling towards a defeat.
In that innings, Dilshan bisected the gaps with whirring drives and pulls off Broad. When Swann tossed it up, he landed powerful blows and reached his century in quick time.
The raw emotions he showed by pumping his fists and kissing the Sri Lankan badge to celebrate his hundred, gave a glimpse of how much it meant to him to compose a hundred at Lord's. Barring a tough chance grassed by Matthews Prior off Graeme Swann on 80, it was a near-flawless knock.
Steven Finn, eventually, ended Dilshan's tenacious effort with a delivery that nipped back sharply to shatter the leg-stump, as he fell just seven runs short of becoming the first Sri Lankan to compile a double ton at Lord's.
It has to be also noted that Dilshan had to play through the pain barrier during that innings. Initially, he had to wade through a tough spell from Tremlett. The tall fast bowler, standing at 6'7”, extracted disconcerting bounce, to produce a well-directed short delivery after Tea on Day 2 to land a painful blow on Dilshan's right thumb. Incidentally, the Hampshire fast bowler rattled Dilshan with another crushing blow on his thumb (X-rays later revealed that he had sustained a fracture).
2) 147, Australia v Sri Lanka, Hobart 2012
Dilshan handled the peaks of ecstasy and the troughs of despair with poise and equanimity. After scaling noteworthy heights in 2011, the opener had to step down as the captain of the national team in January 2012. However, by the end of that year, he again emerged as a winner by crunching a crucial hundred in the first Test against Australia in Hobart.
After the home side had aggregated 450 for 5 declared, the Sri Lankan batsmen were under pressure to prove their mettle in unfamiliar climes. At the forefront of the tourists' fightback was again Dilshan.
He strode out to the middle with a brisk gait and drilled a couple of boundaries off Mitchell Starc. When Nathan Lyon was introduced into the attack, he lofted him into the downtown territories. After the Lunch break on Day 3, the Australian pace attack blended hostility and nagging control, but Dilshan showed the required batting aptitude to shepherd the Sri Lankan middle-order.
After essaying a stroke-filled innings, Dilshan was castled by a yorker from Starc for 147, but by then, he had lifted the spirits of the Sri Lankan camp.
3) 106 and 1-40, Australia v Sri Lanka, Adelaide 2012
The Adelaide Oval, nestled in the backdrop of picturesque gardens and swaying trees, provided the perfect setting for Dilshan to launch a splendid all-round show to ensure the visitors levelled the three-match final series 1-1.
With a blue bandana perched beneath his helmet, Dilshan's batting fluctuated between cracking drives and pulls, sprinkled by the occasional Dilscoop. Dilshan was even clonked on the helmet when he missed an attempted scoop, but that day, runs just flowed from his willow.
The veteran batsman and Mahela Jayawardene hustled Sri Lanka to 30 runs off just three overs and maintained the tempo for the rest of the innings. Dilshan grounded out a hundred as the visitors cantered to an eight-wicket win. Dilshan had also plugged away from one end with his offspin to keep the lid on the scoring rate. In fact, his economical spell of 1 for 40 paved the way for the tourists to restrict Australia to 271 for 6 on an easy-paced track.
4) 108 not out and 1-25, Sri Lanka v England, Colombo (RPS) 2011
Despite a topsy-turvy campaign in the group phase of the 2011 World Cup held in the subcontinent, England arrived on the shores of Colombo for the quarter-final game against Sri Lanka on a confident note. In Swann and James Tredwell, the visitors had the arsenal to usurp Sri Lanka in the sapping heat.
The tourists, though, put up a stultifying batting performance before Dilshan and Upul Tharanga shared an unbeaten stand of 231, and for Sri Lanka to record a thumping 10-wicket win.
Dilshan's calm demeanour at the start of the innings indicated that he was unburdened by the track offering assistance to the spinners. He showed purposeful aggression against the new ball to dispatch the English pacers square on the off-side for a stream of boundaries.
The veteran batsman then uncoiled his wrists to chip down the track to repeatedly loft the spin-duo of Tredwell and Swann. With both the openers nearing the three-figure mark, Dilshan drove Swann for a four to reach the milestone. As a result, Tharanga was left almost stranded on 98, with Sri Lanka requiring three more runs to seal the game.
Dilshan, though, immediately apologised to his opening partner and stonewalled a couple of deliveries from Swann. Tharanga followed it up by slapping Tremlett square on the off-side to compose a well-measured century. The poignancy of Dilshan's apology to Tharanga would be etched in one's mind. Earlier, Dilshan had also scuppered England's ambitions of posting a sizeable total by dismissing Andrew Strauss.
5) 160, India v Sri Lanka, Rajkot 2009
In many ways, 2009 turned out to be a career-defining year for the affable cricketer. He aggregated exactly 1,000 runs at an average of 55.55 in the 50-over format. He also essayed four hundreds that year, but he saved his best for a beleaguered Indian bowling line-up in Rajkot.
On a batting paradise, India finished up with a mammoth 414 for 7 in their allotted 50 overs, but Dilshan's blazing start left the packed stadium in a state of stupor. His full complement of shots was on display that day.
Supple wrists were juxtaposed by judicious manoeuvring of the field, as he drove, cut and pulled to scissor the gaps on both sides of the wicket. A thunderous pull shot and a crisp drive off Zaheer Khan were the pick of the shots.
When Ravindra Jadeja was introduced into the attack, Dilshan greased his innings into top gear by collecting 17 runs in a single over. He even used a volley of scoops to keep the opposition guessing.
Dilshan was finally dislodged after he attempted a slog off Harbhajan Singh, but could only hear the death rattle. At that time, the tourists needed to score at just under seven runs per over, but they fell agonisingly short of the target by three runs. The heartbreaking loss would have shattered the Sri Lankan set-up for a while.
6) 104 not out, Sri Lanka v Australia, Pallekele 2011
Dilshan was a force to reckon with even in the shortest format of the game. In 2011, in Pallekele, the right-hander tore apart an Australian attack, comprising of Brett Lee, John Hastings and Mitchell Johnson to pilot his way to an undefeated 57-ball 104.
The home side racked up an impressive 198 with Sangakkara being the next highest scorer after Dilshan with 30.
Australia never really got going and apart from David Warner, who scored a 53 from 62 balls, the chase fell flat. The team from Down Under played out their 20 overs but could only manage 163 in response, thus handing Sri Lanka a 35 run win.
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