New Delhi :
Tilakratne Dilshan, former skipper of Sri Lanka and all-rounder hangs his boots from all the three formats in international cricket. The right handed has been a revelation with the bat because of his ability to counter-attack, especially in One Day games on top of the order.
He was given the freedom to counter attack from the first ball of the innings. The Lankan opener was not only a dynamic fielder but had the knack of breaking partnerships with his off-breaks.
International statics:
The opener accumulated a total of 17,671 runs in international cricket and picked up total of 154 wickets. He scored 39 centuries and 83 fifties in his carrier with 242 catches and 3 stumpings.
Test Career:
Dilshan played 87 Test matches for his country and in 145 innings scored 5,492 runs with an average of 40.99. His highest score is 193 against England that too at Lord’s. He made his debut in 1999, against Zimbabwe at Queens Sports Club. His last Test was in March 2013 against Bangladesh where he scored 57 in the second innings.
One Day International Career:
The Sri Lankan opener played 330 one day internationals and in 303 innings scored 10290 runs. His highest score was 161 runs against India. He made his debut on 1999 against Zimbabwe at Queens Sports Club. He played his last one day international against Australia in 2016. He was the fourth Lankan to score more than 10,000 runs in ODIs.
He was selected in the ICC’s ODI team of the year four times in 2009, 2011, 2013 and 2015. Dilshan was a member of the Sri Lanka side which shared the ICC Champions Trophy 2002 title with India, and also featured in the finals of the ICC Cricket World Cups in 2007 and 2011.
T20I Career:
He played 80 T20 international matches for Sri Lanka and in 79 innings he scored 1889 runs. His highest score is 104.
He played his first match on June 15, 2006, vs England, The Rose Bowl. Known for his unique style of batting in Twent20 games, he invented a shot popularly called ‘Dilscoop’. In this shot the batsmen scoops the ball behind the wicketkeeper’s head. Dilshan mastered the shot so well that he even play this stroke even in one day games.
He was one of the most suited players for the shorter format and can destroy any bowling attack on a given day. He topped the ICC World Twenty20 rankings for T20 Batsmen in June 2009 and the ODI all-rounders' list in 2015 and part of the 2014 WorldT20 winning side.
IPL:
In 2009, Tilakratne Dilshan used to play for Delhi Daredevils under the leadership of Virendra Sehwag who promoted him to bat at number 3 and bat more freely. It was in the 2010 season of the IPL in which he invented the fearless shot ‘DilScoop’, playing the ball above the wicketkeepers head.
Interesting facts:
Dilshan was formerly known as Tuwan Mohammed Dilshan before he converted from Islam to Buddhism. He is now married to Sri Lankan actress Manjula Thilini.
