Aravinda de Silva
Channel: Third Umpire
Date: 22/01/2021

Aravinda de Silva
Aravinda de Silva was one of the most flamboyant batsmen to have played for Sri Lanka. He was quick on his feet which allowed him to play both spinners and pacers with ease. Even now, de Silva's ability to rock onto the back foot and pull the quickest of bowlers is reminisced fondly by fans. For a period of time, de Silva was criticised for throwing his wicket away. However, he matured as a batsman and became one of the lynchpins of the batting line-up.

It was at the tender age of 18 that de Silva made his Test debut against England at the home of cricket - Lord's. However, at that time,the diminutive batsman was known for playing quick-fire cameos, but struggled to convert it into big scores.

It was in the Test match against Pakistan in Faisalabad in 1985 that de Silva converted the burgeoning potential into runs. With Sri Lanka in a spot of bother, de Silva came into bat at No 7 and stood up to the challenge of facing a formidable attack, and essayed a ton. He notched up another century in that series in Karachi, albeit in a losing cause. The next highest score in the second innings for Sr Lanka was 25 by Arjuna Ranatunga.

Even then, de Silva was inconsistent. In the early 1990s though, he started to give an inkling that he was maturing as batsman. In the Wellington Test against New Zealand in 1991, he amassed a pugnacious double ton. In fact, that double ton gave the visitors a great chance to script a fine win on foreign soil. However, on the back of a record-breaking stand between Martin Crowe and Andrew Jones, the hosts escaped with a draw.

However, in 1992, when de Silva lost his wicket at a crucial juncture in a Test against Australia at Colombo (SSC), with the hosts needing just 54 runs, he was again criticised. Sri Lanka lost a slew of wickets and lost that game by 16 runs.

In 1993, de Silva was one of the few Sri Lankan batsmen, who met fire-with-fire against the fearsome pace duo of Brett Schultz and Allan Donald in a Test series held in Sri Lanka. But his detractors pointed to the fact that on occasions, he still had a tendency to crumble under pressure. Eventually, de Silva was even dropped from the side before the Austral-Asia Cup in 1994. As a protest, Arjuna Ranatunga and a few other senior players had pulled out of that tournament.

A few years later in the 1996 World Cup, de Silva erased all those previous memories of getting out to soft dismissals, by piloting them to a historic triumph. The controlled aggression he showed in the final against Australia in Lahore to counter a fine attack, and take the co-hosts to victory, would be reverberated for generations to come. The icing on the cake was that they defeated Australia in the final. Remember, they had a tough tour of Australia just before the World Cup commenced.

For the next couple of years, de Silva added more match-turning knocks to a chest already full of cracking innings. In particular, he took a liking to Anil Kumble's bowling and as a result, India suffered. In 1997, over a period of five innings, he compiled four centuries against India. In 1997, de Silva's hundred against Zimbabwe in a Test match at SSC, helped the hosts to chase down a massive target of 300 plus.

By the end of that decade though, de Silva was on the decline. He didn't have a good 1999 World Cup. He continued to play until the next World Cup in 2003, before hanging up his boots.

de Silva was a handy off-spinner, too. His biggest contribution on the bowling front came in the 1996 World Cup final, when he took the key wickets of Mark Taylor and Ricky Ponting. de Silva captained Sri Lanka in Tests and ODIs, but he didn't have a good time. Under him, Sri Lanka struggled to make an impact in the 1992 World Cup and he soon resigned from the job.

He was also a prolific run-getter for Kent in County cricket. His blazing innings of 112 in just 95 balls against Lancashire in the Benson and Hedges final in 1995 is remembered for the grandeur of strokeplay on display. Other than cricket, de Silva loves fast cars.

By Bharath Ramaraj (https://www.cricbuzz.com/profiles/3531/aravinda-de-silva#!#profile)

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