A master batsman, a shrewd spinner, and a huge patriot, Aravinda De Silva is known to be one of the best cricketers that the Sri Lankan cricket team has ever produced.
He seemed to always look comfortable on the pitch and no matter how big the occasion or how much the pressure was, he used to absorb it beautifully. The bigger the pressure, the better he ended up performing.
Born in Colombo, Sri Lanka in 1965, Aravinda De Silva made his ODI debut against the New Zealand cricket team in 1984. During his magnificent career, he played a total of 308 ODIs where he scored a total of 9284 runs at an average of 34.80.
To his account, Aravinda has 11 centuries and 64 fifties and a top-score of 145 is his highest contribution in an inning for the Lankan side. With the ball, he contributed regularly and chipped in with wickets on vital occasions. He has 106 wickets to his name and many believe that if he had bowled regularly he would have got a lot more.
His memorable performance however came during the 1996 Cricket World Cup in which he proved pivotal and gave some crucial performances leading to the final against the Australian cricket team in which he not only scored a brilliant hundred but also took 3 wickets which helped his side win the title and won him the man of the match award too.
Aravinda now heads the Sri Lankan selection committee and just like he contributed on the cricket field for his country, he has been introducing some very talented faces to the squad which has made the present Sri Lankan side one of the favorites to lift the trophy this time around.
Although there were many important occasions where Aravinda De Silva led Sri Lanka towards a victory, his performance in the 1996 world cup cricket final is the highlight of his cricketing career.
