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Kumar Sangakkara

Kumar Chokshanada Sangakkara (කුමාර් චොක්ශනාද සංගක්කාර; born 27 October 1977) is a Sri Lankan former professional cricketer who represented Sri Lanka in 134 Test matches from 2000 to 2015, including fifteen as captain. In first-class cricket, he played for Nondescripts Cricket Club from 1997–98 to 2013–14 and for Surrey County Cricket Club from 2015 to 2017. He also played for numerous franchise teams. He was born in Matale, Central Province. He was a part of the Sri Lankan squads which won the 2001-02 Asian Test Championship, 2002 ICC Champions Trophy (jointly with India) and the 2014 T20 World Cup.

Sangakkara played mostly as a wicket-keeper-batter and is generally regarded as one of the greatest players of this type in cricket history. He batted left-handed and, although he rarely bowled, was a right-arm off spinner. In all three forms of international cricket, Sangakkara is the second-highest run-scorer, having amassed a total of 28,016 including 63 centuries.

Since retirement, he has worked as a commentator for Sky Sports and served as President of the MCC from October 2019 to September 2021. In January 2021, Sangakkara also became the coach of Rajasthan Royals in the Indian Premier League. He was inducted into the ICC Cricket Hall of Fame in June 2021, the second Sri Lankan player to be inducted after Muttiah Muralitharan.

He has recently come out of retirement to play for Dorset Division 3 side Shillingstone CC. He bats at 5 after claiming he is "untested at this level".

Early life
Kumar Sangakkara was born in Matale, Central Province, on 27 October 1977. He is the fourth and youngest child of Kshema, a civil lawyer, and Kumari Sangakkara. Kumar was brought up in the family home near Kandy. His father was very keen on sport and would daily spend hours coaching his children.

Sangakkara's childhood, youth and most of his cricket career were set against the background of the ruinous Sri Lankan Civil War (1983–2009) between the Tamil militants (mainly the Tamil Tigers) and the government of Sri Lanka. It is generally held that the war began with the Black July riots in 1983. During Black July, Sangakkara's parents offered shelter to Tamil families, whom six-year-old Kumar viewed as his friends.

He was educated at Trinity College, Kandy. Musically talented, he was a chorister and played the violin. He excelled in several sports and his mother Kumari wanted him to concentrate on his best one. The choice was between cricket and tennis. Kumari sought the advice of college principal Leonard de Alwis, who said Kumar should focus on cricket. The Sangakkaras are a sporting family and Kumar's three elder siblings all excelled in sports at Trinity. His two sisters, Thushari and Saranga, played basketball and tennis respectively, both at representative level. Saranga won a national tennis championship. Kumar's elder brother Vemindra represented the college in both cricket and badminton.

Sangakkara represented his school's Under-13, under-15, under-17, and first XI teams. In August 1994, when he was 16, he went to Kuala Lumpur with Sri Lanka's national under-19 team and played in two one-day matches against Bangladesh under-19s. Even so, he modestly described himself as a "run-of-the-mill" cricketer while he was at school, but he said facing real competition at Nondescripts Cricket Club spurred him on to improve his game and strive to reach a high standard. Academically successful, he was the school's Senior Prefect (Head Boy) and received its Trinity Lion and Ryde Gold Medal awards. He passed the Advance Level Examination and gained entry to the Faculty of Law at the University of Colombo. However, he had to indefinitely postpone his law degree due to his cricketing commitments; he said in 2011 that he would consider finishing it after his cricket career ended.

Nondescripts and the under-19s
After he entered the University of Colombo in 1996, Sangakkara joined Nondescripts who were one of the city's most notable clubs and he spent most of his domestic career, until 2014, with them. Having played for Sri Lanka under-19s while he was still at school, he made further appearances for the team in the 1996–97 season. In February 1997, he played in three Under-19 Tests against the touring India under-19 team, though he did not keep wicket. In the second match, he was run out for 96 in Sri Lanka's first innings. In March, he played in three Under-19 One-Day Internationals (ODIs) against India under-19s.

First-class and List A debuts
Sangakkara began his professional career in the 1997–98 season when he was 20 years old. He made his List A debut on 28 December 1997 in a 50-over match, playing for Nondescripts against Bloomfield Cricket and Athletic Club at the Sinhalese Sports Club Ground in Colombo. The match was a Hatna Trophy semi-final which Nondescripts won by 71 runs. Sangakkara scored 18 in a total of 211. Nondescripts went on to win the tournament, defeating Tamil Union by 5 wickets in the final.

Soon afterwards, on 9 January 1998, he made his first-class debut in a Saravanamuttu Trophy match, also against Bloomfield C&A, at the Nondescripts Cricket Club Ground in Colombo. This was a three-day national championship match which ended in a draw. Sangakkara kept wicket and was seventh in the Nondescripts batting order. He held three catches and, in his only innings, scored six runs. He played in six championship matches that season. Nondescripts finished third in Group A of the competition and marginally failed to gain a place in the play-offs.

In the 1998–99 season, the Saravanamuttu Trophy was rebranded as the Premier Championship and Sangakkara played in fourteen matches from January to June 1999. He had only moderate success as a batter, scoring 444 runs with a highest innings of 55; but he made his mark as a wicket-keeper by completing 33 dismissals (32 catches and one stumping). The two group system was abandoned and the championship became a straight league competition in which the sixteen teams played each other once. Nondescripts, with four wins in their fifteen matches, finished fifth. During the season, Sangakkara played in five one-day matches for Sri Lanka B in a triangular tournament with Sri Lanka A and the English team Leicestershire, who were on tour.

Sri Lanka A (1999–2000)
In November 1999, Sangakkara was selected for the Sri Lanka A team's tour of South Africa. It was at this point that he decided to abandon his degree course and leave university. On the tour, he played in three limited overs and two first-class matches against South Africa A, his best performance being an innings of 89 in one of the limited overs games. On 20 May 2000, playing in a limited overs match for Sri Lanka A against the touring Zimbabwe A at the De Soysa Stadium in Moratuwa, Sangakkara played an outstanding innings of 156 not out, which helped him to obtain a place in Sri Lanka's national team two months later.

He played in seven Premier Championship matches for Nondescripts in 1999–2000, but the team had a poor season. The two groups format was revived with Nondescripts in Group A and finishing fifth. Nondescripts played in Group B of the Premier Limited Overs Tournament but they again disappointed and did not qualify for the play-offs.

Test and ODI debuts (July 2000)
In July 2000, Sri Lanka hosted the Singer Triangular Series between themselves, Pakistan, and South Africa. The teams played each other twice in a round-robin league format and the top two, South Africa and Sri Lanka, qualified for the final which Sri Lanka won by 30 runs. Sangakkara made his One Day International (ODI) debut in the opening match when Sri Lanka played Pakistan at the Galle International Stadium on 5 July. Pakistan batted first and scored 164/8 from their 45 overs (reduced from 50 because of a delay caused by bad weather). Sangakkara kept wicket and made an important contribution when he caught Mohammad Yousuf off Nuwan Zoysa for a first-ball "duck". Sri Lanka needed only 37.3 overs to score 166/5 and win the match by five wickets with 45 balls in hand. Sangakkara was fifth in the batting order and made 35 before he was run out by Imran Nazir at 131/4. ESPN's cricket writer Charlie Austin wondered if Sangakkara had "the head for international cricket and also the technique". He was impressed enough to describe Sangakkara as "a down to earth man, both intelligent and mature, who was unfazed by the situation and was immediately off the mark with a fluid square drive".

In the second match, when Sri Lanka played South Africa at Galle on 6 July, Sangakkara was voted Man of the Match after he scored 85 before again being run out, this time by Makhaya Ntini. He shared a fifth wicket partnership of 120 with Russel Arnold (59 not out) and Sri Lanka totalled 249/7 in their 50 overs. South Africa were all out for 212, Sangakkara catching Jonty Rhodes off his first ball, and Sri Lanka won by 37 runs.

Sangakkara played in all five of Sri Lanka's matches in the tournament, dismissing seven batters (3 caught, 4 stumped) and scoring 199 runs at 66.33 to secure his place in the upcoming Test series against South Africa.

He made his Test debut at Galle on 20–23 July in the first match of the three-match series. Sri Lanka won by an innings and 15 runs. In his team's only innings, Sangakkara was fifth in the batting order and had scored 23 when he was dismissed leg before wicket (lbw) by Nicky Boje. Sri Lanka totalled 522 and then bowled South Africa out for 238 and 269 to win with a day to spare. Sangakkara kept wicket and held two catches to dismiss Gary Kirsten in the first innings and Lance Klusener in the second. Both catches were off the bowling of Muttiah Muralitharan who took 13 wickets in the match. Sangakkara also dismissed Kirsten in the second innings when he took a throw from Chaminda Vaas to complete a run out.

2000–01 season
Nondescripts won the Premier Championship in 2000–01 but Sangakkara missed most of their matches due to international commitments. In October 2000, he travelled to Nairobi and Sharjah for two limited overs competitions. Sri Lanka reached the final of the Coca-Cola Champions Trophy in Sharjah and defeated India by 245 runs. Batting first, Sri Lanka scored 299/5 in their 50 overs. Sangakkara was bowled for 8 by Sachin Tendulkar. India collapsed and were all out for 54 in just 26 overs, Sangakkara completing two dismissals (a catch and a run out).

From November 2000 to February 2001, he was on overseas tours with Sri Lanka who visited South Africa and New Zealand. In South Africa, he played in three Tests and six ODIs as well as some matches against provincial teams; Sri Lanka were heavily beaten in both series. On the second tour, Sri Lanka played ODIs only against New Zealand and Sangakkara played in all five; Sri Lanka won the series 4–1. Returning home, he played in three Tests and three ODIs against England, who toured Sri Lanka in February and March 2001. England won the Test series 2–1 and Sri Lanka won the ODI series 3–0. The second Test, played at the Asgiriya Stadium in Kandy, was highly controversial because of incompetent umpiring by B. C. Cooray whose errors probably cost Sri Lanka the match and the series. One of the consequences was bad feeling between the players and Sangakkara became involved in a heated argument with Michael Atherton, who was seen to be wagging a finger at him. When asked about it afterwards, Atherton alleged that Sangakkara had called the England team "cheats".

The Premier Championship was re-vamped again so that the top four teams in each of Groups A and B formed a Super League. In this, the eight teams played each other once. Winning teams were awarded twelve points and there were also bonus points for achieving batting and bowling targets. Crucially for Nondescripts, the team with the highest first innings total in a drawn match was awarded eight points. Nondescripts, who had finished second in Group B, won only one Super League match while runners-up Burgher Recreation Club won three; and Burgher had a slight advantage in bonus points gained. What made the difference was that Burgher drew their other four games but led on first innings in only one of them, so their total was 44 plus bonuses. Nondescripts drew their other six games and, in all of them including the one against Burgher, were ahead on first innings for a points total of 60 plus bonuses. Sangakkara was only available for the last two matches including the decisive one against Burgher, although he made little impact. Playing as a specialist batter, he scored only 6 in his one innings. Nondescripts scored 372 and then bowled Burgher out for 125 to claim the first innings points. Burgher followed on and were 79/7 when the match ended in a draw. In the final round of matches, Nondescripts met Colombo Cricket Club while Burgher played Tamil Union. Nondescripts were eight points ahead of Burgher and knew they must gain first innings points at least. Sangakkara again made little impact. After Colombo had been dismissed for 246, he opened the innings and was out for 13. Nondescripts were dismissed for 245 and so, unable to claim first innings points, they had to win the match to remain top of the league. In the second innings, Colombo collapsed and were all out for 141 after off spinner Ruwan Kalpage took a career-best 7/27. Sangakkara scored only 14 and Nondescripts struggled, but they managed to reach 143/7 and win by three wickets. As things turned out, Nondescripts could have lost to Colombo and still won the title because Burgher drew with Tamil Union and were behind on first innings.

2001–02 season
Nondescripts won the Premier Limited Overs Tournament in 2001–02 but, as before, Sangakkara's involvement was limited by his international commitments. The only match he played in was the final at the Sinhalese Sports Club Ground in Colombo on 19 January 2002. Nondescripts defeated Tamil Union by 44 runs. Batting third, Sangakkara scored 98 at exactly one run per ball. He shared a second wicket partnership of 153 with Aravinda de Silva (65) and Nondescripts totalled 278/8 from their 50 overs. Tamil Union were all out for 234. Seeking to defend their Premier Championship title, Nondescripts reached the play-off semi-final but lost to Colts by 2 wickets; Sangakkara scored 20 and 37.

Sri Lanka hosted three three-match Test series from August 2001 to January 2002. The visitors were India in August, West Indies in November and December, and Zimbabwe in December and January. Sri Lanka also took part in the 2001–02 Asian Test Championship.

In his first-class career to date, Sangakkara had been dismissed in the nineties three times, twice in Test matches. In the first Test against India at Galle, he scored 105 not out and helped his team to a ten-wicket victory. He scored his second century in the first Test against West Indies, also at Galle, in November. West Indies batted first and scored 448, largely due to an innings of 178 by Brian Lara which ended when Sangakkara caught him behind off the bowling of Muralitharan. Sri Lanka replied with 590/9 declared. Sangakkara made their top score of 140 before he was run out. He shared a third wicket partnership of 162 with Mahela Jayawardene (99), a forerunner of things to come. West Indies collapsed in their second innings and were all out for 144, Sri Lanka needing only six runs to win by 10 wickets.

India had withdrawn from the Asian Test Championship for political reasons but Bangladesh, Pakistan and Sri Lanka continued. The latter two contested the final at the Gaddafi Stadium in March and Sri Lanka won by 8 wickets after Sangakkara scored his first double-century with an innings of 230. Pakistan batted first, totalling 234, and Sri Lanka replied with 528. Sangakkara and Jaywardene (68) added 173 for the third wicket. Pakistan were all out for 325 in their second innings, and Sri Lanka needed only 32 to win. Sangakkara was named Player of the Match.

2002 to 2006
By now an established member of the international team, Sangakkara continued to play mostly for Sri Lanka and travelled worldwide during this period. He toured England in both 2002 and 2006. In between those tours, Sri Lanka played series in each of Australia (3), Bangladesh, India, New Zealand (2), Pakistan, South Africa, West Indies, and Zimbabwe. They hosted home series against Australia, Bangladesh (2), England, New Zealand, Pakistan, South Africa, and West Indies. They were in Kenya and South Africa for the 2003 Cricket World Cup, reaching the semi-finals, and hosted the 2004 Asia Cup, which they won.

In domestic cricket, Nondescripts were unable to challenge for further trophies after their successes in 2001 and 2002. In 2003–04, Sangakkara played in five Premier Championship matches and eight Premier Limited Overs Tournament matches, including the semi-final against Bloomfield, but that was the last season in which he was able to make more than a handful of appearances for them. Apart from 2016 and 2017 when he was playing regular first-class cricket in England for Surrey, 2003–04 was the only season in which Sangakkara achieved the target of a thousand runs. He played in sixteen matches and scored 1,191 runs at 44.11 per completed innings with three centuries and eight fifties. His highest score was 125. He also completed 55 dismissals, by far his highest season total, with 43 catches and 12 stumpings.

Twenty20 debuts (2004 and 2006)
Twenty20 (T20) was introduced to Sri Lanka on 17 August 2004 when the first round of the 2004 SLC Twenty20 Tournament was played. There were eight matches that day and a total of 176 players, including Sangakkara, made their T20 debuts. Sangakkara played for Nondescripts against Tamil Union at the Moors Sports Club Ground in Colombo. Batting third, he scored 39 off 21 balls as Nondescripts won by 17 runs. Nondescripts then played Colts at the R. Premadasa Stadium in the quarter-final but lost by 4 wickets; Sangakkara again scored 39.

He made his Twenty20 International (T20I) debut on 15 June 2006 when Sri Lanka played England at the Rose Bowl, near Southampton. The match was Sri Lanka's first-ever T20I but the team acquitted themselves well to win by 2 runs. They won the toss and, batting first, were all out for 163 (their last wicket fell to the final ball of the innings). Sangakkara came in fifth and hit 21 from 14 deliveries before he was caught by Andrew Strauss. He kept wicket as England replied and completed a catch and a run out. England were 161/5 when their innings closed. Sangakkara's run out of Marcus Trescothick was a key moment in the match as Trescothick had scored 72 and the match seemed to be going England's way. They needed twelve runs from eight balls after he was out and then needed nine from the 20th over bowled by Dilhara Fernando, who restricted them to six.

2006 in England
He made a poor return in his six first-class matches on this tour with only 347 runs at 31.54.

Sri Lanka v South Africa, 2006
Sangakkara and Jayawardene set the world record in both Test and first-class cricket for the highest partnership between two batters for any wicket. This was their stand of 624 for the third wicket in the first Test against South Africa in 2006. Sangakkara scored 287 and Jayawardene 374. The partnership is the only one to exceed 600 for any wicket in first-class history In addition, Sangakkara and Jayawardene hold the record for the highest partnership (166 for the 2nd wicket) for any wicket in ICC World T20 history.

English county cricket
Sangakkara played English county cricket with Warwickshire in the 2007 County Championship. In 2010, Sangakkara was contracted to represent Lancashire in the 2010 County Championship, but never represented the club because of international commitments. For the 2015 and 2016 seasons, Sangakkara was contracted to play for Surrey. After his international retirement, Sangakkara continued to play for Surrey and in 2017 scored his 100th century in all formats of the game combined on 13 June 2017.

Sri Lanka vice-captain (2006–2009)
When Sri Lanka toured Bangladesh in February 2006 regular captain Marvan Atapattu was injured and Mahela Jayawardene became captain while Sangakkara was made vice-captain. Pakistan toured Sri Lanka for two Test and three ODIs in March 2006, and with Atapattu still injured Jayawardene and Sangakkara remained captain and vice-captain respectively. The pair had only expected to hold the positions on an interim basis, but extended into a third series as Atapattu failed to recover in time to tour England in April and ended up filling the roles full-time. In July 2006, Sangakkara made his second-highest Test score to-date (287) against South Africa. In a record-breaking partnership with Mahela Jayawardene, he set up the world record for the highest partnership in Test cricket—624 runs—in this match.

By this time, Sangakkara was effectively playing as a specialist batter in Test cricket, his wicket-keeping duties having been handed over to Prasanna Jayawardene. Sangakkara continued to played as a wicket-keeper-batter in the limited overs forms.

On 6 December 2007 he made it to the top spot of ICC Test player rankings with a rating of 938, the highest rating ever achieved by a Sri Lankan player, and became the first batsman ever to score in excess of 150 in four consecutive tests. His skill was recognised worldwide when he earned selection for the ICC World XI One-Day International team that competed against Australia in the Johnnie Walker Series in October 2005. Despite the World XI losing all of the one-day games by considerable margins, Sangakkara left the series with some credit, averaging 46. He was one of the winners of the 2008 inaugural ESPNcricinfo awards for outstanding batting in Test cricket. He was once again named in the World Test XI by the ICC in 2010.

Sangakkara holds the record for being the fastest man to 8,000, 9,000, 10,000 (jointly held), 11,000 and 12,000 runs in Test cricket. During Sri Lanka's tour to England in May 2006, he was named the vice-captain of the side. On 3 March 2009, a terrorist attack on the Sri Lankan team convoy in Pakistan injured 6 Sri Lankan players including Sangakkara. Sangakkara suffered shrapnel wounds in his shoulder. In November 2006, Sangakkara was included in the ICC World XI Test team. Next year, he signed an agreement to join Warwickshire County Cricket Club. That year, he scored back-to-back double centuries in Tests and became only the fifth cricketer in the history to do so.

Sangakkara was in the Sri Lanka teams which reached the finals of the 2007 Cricket World Cup, the 2011 Cricket World Cup, the 2009 ICC World Twenty20 and the 2012 ICC World Twenty20. He won several awards including:

 * ICC ODI Player of the Year: 2011, 2013
 * Wisden Leading Cricketer in the World: 2011, 2014
 * Wisden Cricketer of the Year: 2012
 * ICC Cricketer of the Year: 2012
 * ICC Test Player of the Year: 2012
 * Wisden India Cricketer of the Year: 2013
 * Surrey cap: 2015

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Indian Premier League
Sangakkara has played in five seasons of the Indian Premier League (IPL). Winning bids for him in 2008 and 2011 were US$700,000 by Kings XI Punjab and US$300,000 by Deccan Chargers, respectively. He was the captain of the Sunrisers Hyderabad team. Sangakkara has scored 1567 runs with 10 half-centuries in 62 matches in IPL.

In January 2021, Sangakkara was named the director of cricket of Rajasthan Royals ahead of the IPL 2021, and subsequently the team's head coach. With Rajasthan, he played a crucial role in leading them to the 2022 Indian Premier League final.

Sri Lanka Premier League
In the Sri Lanka Premier League which officially started in 2012, Sangakkara was named the captain and icon player of the Kandurata Warriors franchise. Unfortunately, he couldn't participate as a player in the inaugural edition in 2012 as he suffered a finger injury weeks before the tournament during a One Day International against India. However, he appeared as a television commentator during some matches.

Caribbean Premier League
On 18 August 2013, Sangakkarra joined the Jamaica Tallawahs of the Caribbean Premier League.

Sri Lanka captaincy
In February 2009, the then captain of the Sri Lankan side, Mahela Jayawardene announced that he would step down from captaincy "in the best interests of the Sri Lankan team". He said he believed that it would give his successor around two years to build up to the 2011 Cricket World Cup. Therefore, at the age of 31 and with the experience of 80 Tests and 246 ODIs, Sangakkara succeeded Jayawardene as Sri Lanka's captain in all formats of the game. His first engagement in the role was the 2009 ICC World Twenty20 hosted by England in June. Sri Lanka became runners-up in the series after winning all the game in group and knock-out stages and being defeated by Pakistan in the final. Sangakkara made 64 not-out in the final, but was unable to take Sri Lanka for the championship. He was named in the 'Team of the Tournament' by ESPNcricinfo for the 2009 T20I World Cup.

Sri Lanka failed to reach to the knock-out stage of the ICC Champions Trophy in September 2009. The next Indian tour proved to be disastrous for the team, with Sri Lanka being beaten by India in Test series 2–0 and ODI series 3–1.

Sri Lankan team under the captaincy of Sangakkara gained momentum and won the next Tri-series in Bangladesh, Zimbabwe and Sri Lanka, beating India as well. The Sri Lankans' tour of Australia proved to be very successful, in winning both the T20 and ODI series. This was Sri Lanka's first ever series victory in Australia.

A month in advance of the 2011 World Cup in March, Sangakkara decided that he would resign the captaincy after the tournament. Sri Lanka reached the final of the tournament. Throughout the tournament Sangakkara was in prolific form with the bat scoring 465 runs from 9 matches and was the third highest run-scorer behind teammate Tillakaratne Dilshan and India's Sachin Tendulkar. He was named as captain and wicket-keeper of the 'Team of the Tournament' for the 2011 World Cup by the ICC. He was also named in the 'Team of the Tournament' by ESPNcricinfo. During the final, loud crowd noise prevented match referee Jeff Crowe from hearing Sri Lankan captain Sangakkara's call as the coin was tossed by Indian captain Dhoni. The toss had to be redone – an extremely unusual event, especially at as prominent an event as the World Cup final. He also criticised the decision of ICC in its attempt to tweak and alter the 2.5-metre rule while a tournament was in progress.

Days after guiding Sri Lanka to the finals of the World Cup, Sangakkara announced to the public he was stepping down as captain of the T20 and ODI teams. He offered to continue as Test captain if deemed necessary for transition to new skipper, but Dilshan was appointed captain across all formats. Reflecting on the decision afterwards, he said that "captaining Sri Lanka is a job that ages you very quickly ... It's rarely a job you will last long in ... I also had a two-year stint, and I enjoyed it at times, certainly on the field where our results showed we were one of the top two sides in the world for one-and-a-half years, especially in the shorter form of the game."

The same year, he was named the ODI Cricketer of the Year at the ICC awards ceremony. In 2012, he was honoured as one of the Wisden Cricketers of the Year.

Internationals (2011–2014)
Sri Lanka's first fixture after the World Cup was a Sri Lanka tour of England in 2011 beginning in May. During the second match of a three Test series Tillakaratne Dilshan, Sangakkara's successor as captain, suffered a broken thumb. Sangakkara filled in while Dilshan was off the pitch and formally assumed the captaincy for the final Test. The match ended in a draw and the series ended in a 1–0 victory for England; Sangakarra scored a century in the match, his first against England in nine Tests.

Sangakkara was named the man of the series in Test series with Pakistan in 2011/12—his first man of the series award in Test cricket. He made 516 runs in the 3 match series which was won by Pakistan 1–0. On August in 2013, he was named the ODI Cricketer of the Year, wicket-keeper-captain of the ICC World XI Test team, and won the ICC People's Choice Award in the 2011 ICC Awards. In 2012, he was named one of the Wisden's five Cricketers of the Year. He was also named as captain and wicket-keeper of the 2011 World Test XI by the ICC and named in the 2012 World Test XI and ODI XI.

In 2012, Sangakkara received the Sir Garfield Sobers Trophy having been elected ICC Cricketer of the Year. For his achievements in 2011, he was one of the five Wisden Cricketers of the Year in the 2012 edition of Wisden Cricketers' Almanack. In the same edition, he was named the 2011 Wisden Leading Cricketer in the World and he won this award again in the 2015 edition for his achievements in 2014, the first player to win the award twice (subsequently, Virat Kohli and Ben Stokes have won it three times each).

Sangakkara struggled with his form when England toured Sri Lanka in 2012. He failed to score a half century during The Two Test match series. But he regained his form in the ODI series against Pakistan where his batting score reached the 90s. In the Test series that followed, Sangakkara continued his form with a 199, the scoreboard originally said he had scored the double century but it turned out to be a mistake. Sri Lanka later won the Test match. He followed this up with 192 in the same game, again missing out on the double century. The next two matches were drawn, which meant Sri Lanka won the series 1–0. This was their first time winning a Test series since the retirement of Muttiah Muralitharan.

On the Sri Lankan tour of Bangladesh in 2014, Sangakkara hit his highest test score to date with 319 in the first innings of the second test. Making him only the third Sri Lankan player to hit a triple century after Sanath Jayasuriya and Mahela Jayawardene. He followed his triple century with a knock of 105 in the 2nd innings and the game finished as a draw. He continued his good batting run with another century in the 2nd ODI.

Along with teammate Mahela Jayawardene, he recorded the most partnership runs for the 3rd wicket in Test history, scoring 5890 runs surpassing the 5826 runs of Rahul Dravid and Sachin Tendulkar, during the first Test match against Pakistan at Galle International Stadium. The two also hold the record for the highest partnership for any wicket in Test matches, scoring 624 runs for the 3rd wicket against South Africa in July 2006. This still stands as the largest partnership for any wicket in first-class cricket, anywhere.

His impressive form with the bat continued at the 2014 Asia Cup where he amassed a total of 245 runs in five innings. He started the tournament with a 63 against Pakistan before hitting a match winning 103 against India. He then added scores of 77 and 2 against Afghanistan and Bangladesh before being dismissed for a golden duck in the final against Pakistan. Sri Lanka went on to win the game and the tournament.

Bangladesh Premier League
In 2015, he was signed by Dhaka Dynamites for the 2015–16 Bangladesh Premier League. He was the leading run scorer of that season, scoring 349 runs in 10 matches. He was retained by Dhaka Dynamites for the 2016–17 Bangladesh Premier League.

Pakistan Super League
In 2015, Sangakkara joined the Quetta Gladiators of the Pakistan Super League. He was later released by the franchise and was picked by Karachi Kings as captain for the 2017 edition. Under his captaincy team reached play-offs. The following year, in the 3rd edition of PSL, Sangakkara was picked by Multan Sultans.

Return to county cricket
Before Sri Lanka's Test series against England in 2014, Sangakkara returned to county cricket, playing two matches for Durham, which included 159 against Sussex in his final innings. On 16 January 2015, it was announced that he would be joining Surrey on a two-year contract. Sangakkara scored a brilliant century against Glamorgan, where he scored 149 runs, which was his maiden century for Surrey in this county season. After the match, he said that he was willing to see the comeback of English batsman Kevin Pietersen to international cricket.

Sangakkara represented Surrey from 2015 till 2017, helping them win Division Two of LV= 2015 County Championship and gaining promotion to Division One for the Specsavers 2016 County Championship season. Surrey also reached the finals of 2015 Royal London One-Day Cup before losing by six runs to Gloucestershire.

Final season (2017)
On 22 May 2017, Sangakkara announced that the following season would be his last in first-class cricket. He made the announcement after scoring four consecutive centuries becoming the fourth Surrey batsman to achieve this feat (Ian Ward was the last to do it in 2002), pass 20,000 first-class and having scored 592 runs in the said four games. He scored the fifth consecutive century on 26 May against Essex at the County Cricket Ground, Chelmsford. becoming only the eighth player to achieve this feat. In the quarter-final of the Royal London One-Day Cup against Yorkshire, he scored 121 from as many balls, which became his 100th century in all formats of the game combined, that now included 61 in first-class and 39 in List A games. Sangakkara became the first batsman to reach 1,000 runs for the season when he brought up his sixth century for the season against Yorkshire.

MCC
On the 2020 MCC tour of Pakistan, with all matches played in Lahore, Sangakkara played in all matches, registering 25 runs in the first T20 match with 1 catch behind the stumps, 3 runs in the only LA game (where he did not keep wicket), 1 catch behind the stumps and 10 with the bat in the second T20, and 52 and 1 catch keeping wicket in the third and tour-ending T20,  giving him a total of 3 dismissals credited to his name and 90 runs in total on the tour, giving him a T20 average of 30 and a tour average of 22.5.

Cricket All-Stars Series
Sangakkara, though retired from international cricket, participated in the 2015 Cricket All-Stars Series for Warne's Warriors under Shane Warne's captaincy. In the three T20 matches, he scored 153 runs, more than any other cricketer in the series, and included one fifty. His average in the series was 51.00. He also hit the most fours and sixes, 12 apiece. For his overall performance, Sangakkara was judged player of the series.

Masters Champions League
Sangakkara also played for Gemini Arabians in the first edition of Masters Champions League T20 tournament which took place in the UAE. In the first match against Gemini and Libra Legends, Sangakkara scored 86 runs from just 43 balls and helped the team post a huge total of 234 runs in their allotted 20 overs. Libra Legends only scored 156 in their 20 overs and thus Gemini Arabians won the match courtesy of Sangakkara's knock. Sangakkara was also awarded man of the match. Sangakkara scored four consecutive fifties (65, 51, 51, 62) in the other matches played during the series, this secured a place in the final for the Arabians. In the final against Leo Lions, he scored 30 runs to become top run scorer of the series. His team won the series and remained undefeated throughout the tournament. Sangakkara won player of the series for his 386 runs with 5 fifties.

2014 ICC World Twenty20
Sangakkara won the Man of the Match award in the 2014 ICC World Twenty20 Final and was part of the Sri Lankan team who won the 2014 ICC World Twenty20. He decided to retire from T20 internationals after playing in that tournament and, afterwards, Jayawardene followed him into retirement. Sangakkara under-performed in the World T20 until, in the final against India, he scored 51 not out off 33 balls and help his team win their second ICC trophy since 1996.

Later international matches
Sri Lanka played their first 7-match ODI series at home, against England, from 26 November to 16 December 2014. On 3 December 2014 Sangakkara reached 13,000 runs in One-day internationals in the third match of the series at the Mahinda Rajapaksa International Stadium, Hambantota, and became the fourth player in One-day history to achieve the feat after Sachin Tendulkar, Ricky Ponting, and Sanath Jayasuriya. He also became the second most prolific half-century maker in One-day internationals during this match. He scored 4 consecutive half-centuries followed by a century. On 13 December 2014, he scored his 20th ODI century, becoming the second Sri Lankan to score 20 ODI centuries, after 28 by Sanath Jayasuriya, and 9th overall to do so. He also took 4 catches as a wicket-keeper in this match taking the player of the match award. This match was his last match in his hometown due to his retirement from the ODI arena after the 2015 Cricket World Cup.

His last One-day innings in Sri Lanka was played on 13 December 2014 in the last match of the England ODI series. He was caught while on 33 in his last innings on home soil.

On 4 January 2015, Sangakkara scored his 38th test century by making 203 against New Zealand during the second match of the 2 Test match series. With this feat, he is only one short to become the highest double-century maker in test history. He has 11 test double centuries, only one short of 12 double centuries by Don Bradman. He also surpassed 12,000 runs in Test cricket, becoming the first Sri Lankan and 5th overall cricketer to achieve that mark.

On 14 February 2015, Sangakkara became the second highest run scorer in One-Day International history, by surpassing Australian Ricky Ponting. He achieved this milestone during the first match of the 2015 ICC Cricket World Cup against New Zealand, but Sri Lanka lost the match.

On 26 February 2015 in the 2015 ICC Cricket World Cup against Bangladesh, Sangakkara scored his 22nd ODI century in his 400th appearance in One-Day Internationals. The 210* second wicket partnership between Sangakkara and Tillakaratne Dilshan on that day was broken again on 1 March 2015, in the next group match in World Cup against England, where Sangakkara joined Lahiru Thirimanne with 212* for the second wicket. Sangakkara scored his 23rd century in this match and this 70-ball century was his fastest century overall and the fastest century by a Sri Lankan in World Cup history.

During the same World Cup, against Australia, when chasing a massive score of 377, Sangakkara passed 14,000 ODI runs, becoming the first Sri Lankan and second overall cricketer to pass it. He scored 124 runs in the next match against Scotland, becoming first batsman in World Cup history to score 4 consecutive hundreds.

Sangakkara's last ODI innings were disappointing from him and his teams' point of view, where Sri Lanka lost the quarter-final against South Africa on 18 March 2015. He only scored 45 runs, it was Sri Lanka's first World Cup defeat in a quarter final after 1999. His teammate Mahela also retired from ODI career with this match. He was named in the 'Team of the Tournament' for the 2015 World Cup by the ICC.

He retired from T20Is in April 2014 and from ODIs on 18 March 2015. On 27 June 2015, he officially announced his retirement from Test cricket, to be effective following the second Test against India that year. He scored 32 and 18 in his last Test match and was dismissed by Ravichandran Ashwin in both innings.

Statistical summary
Sangakkara averaged 57.40 in Test cricket and 42 in ODIs.

At the time of his retirement, Sangakkara was the second-highest ODI run-scorer after Sachin Tendulkar, and the sixth-highest Test run-scorer.

He scored 38 centuries in Test cricket, more than any other Sri Lankan batter. In addition, he scored 25 centuries in ODIs.

Sangakkara holds the record for the most wicket-keeping dismissals (482) in ODI cricket, with 383 catches and 99 stumpings. His 13,262 runs in ODIs is the record by a wicket-keeper-batter. In the history of the Cricket World Cup, Sangakkara has completed the highest number of dismissals by a wicketkeeper – 54 in 37 matches. He was the second wicket-keeper after Adam Gilchrist to complete fifty dismissals in World Cups.

Batting
As a batter, Sangakkara tended to play off his front foot, using the cover drive as one of his regular scoring shots. He also liked to hit the ball square of the stumps on the offside, using the cut shot. The pull to leg or onside was another natural stroke for him.

Wicket-keeping
As a wicket-keeper, Sangakkara was noted for his energy and athleticism.

Approach to controversy
Sangakkara is noted for his willingness to speak openly about controversial topics and he was chosen by Marylebone Cricket Club (MCC) to deliver the 2011 Spirit of Cricket Cowdrey Lecture at Lord's. He was both the youngest person and the first active international player to do so. His speech was widely praised by the cricketing community which welcomed Sangakkara's frank statements and outspoken style.

The one-hour-long speech focused on corruption within cricket administration in Sri Lanka. Sangakkara said: "Accountability and transparency in administration and credibility of conduct were lost in a mad power struggle that would leave Sri Lankan cricket with no clear, consistent administration."

He observed that the problems had arisen only after Sri Lanka's 1996 Cricket World Cup victory and blamed "a handful of well-meaning individuals" who control the game, wasting the finances and resources of Sri Lanka Cricket. Immediately after the lecture, the Sri Lankan sports minister Mahindananda Aluthgamage ordered an investigation into Sangakkara's allegations. Despite critical comments by officials in the Sri Lankan government, it has been described as "the most important speech in cricket history."

One of cricket's most controversial issues is so-called "sledging" and Sangakkara has won some admiration for being willing to talk about it openly. In an interview in 2004 he explained his approach to it: "The public perception of sledging is to go out there and abuse someone in obscene language, questioning their parentage or sexual preferences. That kind of abuse does not belong on the field of play. Sledging, as coined and pioneered by the Australians, is a measured comment designed to get a reaction out of a player. It could be any reaction: a bit of anger, a show of arrogance, a comment, a shake of the head, or a slump of the shoulders."

Tributes
When Sangakkara retired from international cricket, he received praise from many sources which confirmed his popularity in the sport and underlined the respect his fellow professionals have always held for him. India's captain Virat Kohli, for example, spoke of Sangakkara as "a lovely human being" who had been "a wonderful player for Sri Lanka" and someone whom "a lot of left-handers really look up to, for the way he plays". Kohli emphasised: "His technique and the way he has scored runs all over the world, his numbers speak for themselves". Angelo Mathews, Sri Lanka's captain at the time, said Sangakkara was "the 'backbone' of their team". Cricket Australia said that, his batting feats aside, Sangakkara "holds a reputation as one of the game's true gentlemen".

Matches between Nalanda College, Colombo, and Trinity College, Kandy, have been part of Sri Lanka's schools cricket calendar since 1978. Mahela Jayawardene was a student of the former and Kumar Sangakkara of the latter. In January 2019, the colleges created the Mahela-Sanga Challenge Trophy as the prize for their future matches against each other. The trophy is dedicated to "two cricketing gentlemen who have shown their willingness to contribute to society on countless occasions".

Committee work for Sri Lanka Cricket
Sangakkara joined Sri Lanka's international selection committee on 7 March 2016, working with chairman Aravinda de Silva and fellow selectors Romesh Kaluwitharana, Ranjith Madurasinghe, and Lalith Kaluperuma. In 2021, Sangakkara was appointed to Sri Lanka Cricket's four-man technical advisory committee panel, again working with de Silva; the other two members were Muttiah Muralitharan and Roshan Mahanama.

Broadcasting
Sangakkara has worked for Sky Sports since 2018 as a cricket commentatator. He has received much praise for the analytical aspect of his comments, which have been described as insightful.

MCC President
In January 2019, Sangakkara accepted an invitation from the incumbent President of Marylebone Cricket Club, Anthony Wreford, to be his successor. The decision was announced on 1 May 2019, at which time Sangakkara became the President-Designate. His one-year term began on 1 October 2019 and Sangakkara was the first non-British MCC President since the club was founded in 1787. He described MCC as "the greatest cricket club in the world" and said being named as its president was a "huge honour". He had been awarded honorary life membership of MCC in 2012 and had joined its World Cricket Committee the same year. He was succeeded by Clare Connor, who became MCC's first female president.

Coaching
Sangakkara is the current coach of Rajasthan Royals in the IPL, having been appointed in January 2021. Under his direction, the Royals reached the 2022 IPL Final but lost by 7 wickets to Gujarat Titans. In IPL 2023, Royals finished fifth in the points table.

ICC Hall of Fame
In June 2021, Sangakkara was elected to the ICC Cricket Hall of Fame, the second Sri Lankan player after Muttiah Muralitharan to receive the honour.

Personal life
Sangakkara met his wife, Yehali, when they were at school together; they have twin children who were born in 2009 soon after he assumed the Sri Lanka captaincy. Yehali has accompanied him on tour including nearly two months in the West Indies for the 2007 Cricket World Cup, in which Sri Lanka were the runners-up. In December 2011, Sangakkara collaborated with Mahela Jayawardene and veteran chef Dharshan Munidasa to open the Ministry of Crab which has developed into one of Colombo's most successful restaurants.

Sangakkara is a devout buddhist. He is involved with Sri Lankan charities, mainly those which help children. He is a member of the Think Wise Initiative, which was launched by the ICC in co-operation with UNICEF and the Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS. It is aimed at raising awareness of HIV prevention and eliminating discrimination against people living with HIV and AIDS. Sangakkara is also a partner in the Foundation of Goodness, a children's charity launched by Muttiah Muralitharan in Galle.

On 19 August 2015, just after the 2015 Sri Lankan parliamentary election, President Maithripala Sirisena appointed Sangakkara as Ambassador of Anti-narcotics, a program which aims to promote awareness of and reduce dependency on dangerous drugs.

title: Kumar Sangakkara


text:
Thilan Samaraweera

Thilan Thusara Samaraweera (තිලාන් සමරවීර; born 22 September 1976) is a former Sri Lankan international cricketer. Samaraweera played international cricket for Sri Lanka. Known as Sri Lanka's crisis man and for his slow strike rate, He is also nicknamed “Bullet Samaraweera" following his wounding during the 2009 terror attack on his national team bus in Pakistan. He retired after over 80 matches with a batting average over 48 in Test cricket. He was a part of the Sri Lankan squad which finished as runners-up at the 2011 Cricket World Cup.

Personal life
Thilan Samaraweera born in Colombo and had his education at Ananda College, Colombo. He is married to Erandathie Samaraweera and has two daughters: Osuni and Sidhya. His brother, Dulip Samaraweera, also played Test cricket, appearing in seven Tests from 1993 to 1995. His brother-in-law Bathiya Perera has represented Sri Lanka A.

Early career
Thilan played school cricket for Ananda College and emerged as a prolific batsman in inter-school competitions. He initially was a frontline spinner at school level. He spearheaded the bowling attack of Ananda capturing 72 wickets in 1984 and 64 wickets in 1985 season. He amassed 1000 runs in 1994 and 1995 seasons. He won the Sri Lankan Schoolboy Cricketer of the Year in 1994 and 1995.

Domestic career
He was drafted to the Kandurata Warriors side ahead of the inaugural edition of the Sri Lanka Premier League in 2012. He signed with Worcestershire County Cricket Club for the 2013 County Championship.

International career
Samaraweera started his career as an off-spinner who could bat a bit and could not find a way into the side due to the emergence of Muttiah Muralitharan. He started his first-class career mainly as a frontline bowler and later improvised his batting in domestic circuit. He managed a handful of ODI games in 1998 but did not play Test cricket until August 2001. He made his ODI debut against India on 6 November 1998 but he was not given the opportunity to bat in the middle order on his ODI debut as he was listed as no 10 batsman. In his next 2 ODI appearances, he batted at no 8 and in his fourth ODI match he batted as a tailender at no 11 position.

Having worked on his batting considerably with his shadow coach Chandika Hathurusingha he got due reward by scoring century on debut against a strong Indian side helping Sri Lanka to win the series 2–1. He continued to star with the bat by scoring another two centuries in his next five Tests, all on his home ground, the SSC in Colombo. This stunning start to international cricket cemented his spot in the middle order, a spot which had holes to fill with the retirements of Aravinda de Silva and Hashan Tillakaratne. He emerged as a frontline batsman in international arena at a time when many Sri Lankan batsmen were nearing the end of their prime. However, he was in and out of Sri Lankan limited overs team as he made a comeback return to the ODI side in 2005 after two years.

His off-spin has been rarely called upon by his captain but when he comes on he has earned a reputation as a partnership breaker. After a poor Test series in England in which he failed to reach double figures in any of his four innings, he was dropped from the side. He was made captain of Sri Lanka A before earning a recall for the first Test against Australia in Brisbane. He scored 13 and 20 and was promptly dropped when Kumar Sangakkara returned to the side for the second game in Hobart. This was followed by his non-inclusion in the squad to play England in the first Test in Kandy.

Samaraweera was included in the Sri Lankan team to play the Test series in Pakistan in February – March 2009. This series was conducted after the Indian team withdrew from a scheduled series in Pakistan, following the November 2008 Mumbai attacks. Samaraweera started off the series in superb form, hitting consecutive double centuries – 231 in the first Test in Karachi and 214 in the second Test in Lahore. He too has the record for the highest individual score for Sri Lanka when batting at number 5 position in tests when he scored 231 against Pakistan. Also, Thilan Samaraweera was the first ever Sri Lankan to score a test century at number 8 position and holds the record for the highest score for Sri Lanka jointly with Kithuruwan Vithanage at number 8 position in tests (103*) During the test tour of Pakistan in 2009, he was highlighted for his machine gun celebration after scoring a century and it was considered as a quite new celebration by a player in international cricket at that time although he did it on numerous occasions in domestic circuit.

In February 2009, he shared a record-breaking partnership of 437 with Mahela Jayawardene. This is a world record for 4th wicket in Test cricket. The previous Test record was held by an English pair—Peter May and Colin Cowdrey—who put on 411 against West Indies at Birmingham in May 1957. The record stood for 6 years until surpassed on 11 December 2015 by two Aussies Adam Voges and Shaun Marsh with 449 for fourth wicket against West Indies. He ended the 2009 season on a high note with 1234 runs in 11 test matches at an average of 72.58.

In September 2009, he scored his maiden ODI century against New Zealand national cricket team at R. Premadasa Stadium, Colombo, almost eleven years after his ODI debut. He scored his next ODI century against India during a 50 over Tri-nation series in Bangladesh in 2010. He was often criticised of being a backyard bully mostly piling up runs in subcontinent amassing 4275 runs in 60 tests in Asia at an average of 54.11 and his record outside Asia was pity average scoring 1187 runs at an average of 35.96 in 21 tests. After being a victim of Lahore attack in 2009, he returned to competitive cricket and initially struggled to deliver on his comeback return.

In 2011, after poor form with the bat during a home series against Australia, he was dropped from Sri Lanka's team for the series against Pakistan. He was also left out of the squad to tour South Africa, but was given a late call-up to cover for Mahela Jayawardene due to a knee injury. He scored two centuries in the three-Test series, and moved into the top ten of the ICC Player Rankings for Test batsmen for the first time in his career.

He was selected to the Sri Lankan team for the 2011 Cricket World Cup which was also his first and only World Cup appearance. He also appeared in the final of the 2011 Cricket World Cup and he played a crucial role by adding 57 runs for the fourth wicket with Mahela Jayawardene.

Samaraweera holds the record for scoring the most runs in ODI cricket with only scoring centuries without even dismissed between 50 and 99, he never had scores of unbeaten innings between 50 and 99. He has scored 2 ODI hundreds without a single ODI fifty. He also ended his ODI career without hitting a six despite two centuries to his name.

In March 2013, he announced his retirement from international cricket after being overlooked for a home Test series against Bangladesh.

Lahore attack
Samaraweera, along with five teammates, was injured in the 3 March 2009 attack on the bus that carried the Sri Lankan team to the Gaddafi Stadium in Lahore, Pakistan. He was hospitalised with a thigh injury. Samaraweera was the most seriously injured player amongst them. Thilan suffered a major injury on his left thigh as a bullet fired by a terrorist pierced through his knee well inside his body by 12 inches. Six policemen that guarded the bus and two civilians were killed in the attack. He then underwent surgery, remained at hospital for two weeks and took brief break from cricket for roughly 4 months. The doctors advised him that he may not ever play cricket again but he soon overcame the obstacles and mental trauma following the attack. He also revealed that he was still haunted by the 2009 Lahore terrorist attack. He returned to cricket in June 2009 following his surgery. He was believed to have undergone 2 and half hours operation at the Nawaloka Hospital in Colombo and fears were also raised that he could be forced to retire from international cricket.

Coaching career
He became the batting consultant for Bangladesh in September 2016 ahead of the Bangladesh's home Test series against England. He was employed by Cricket Australia as a consultant coach for Australian team for the test tour of Sri Lanka. He served as batting consultant for Bangladesh until the 2017 ICC Champions Trophy and BCB did not extend the contract after the Champions Trophy.

In November 2017, he was named as Sri Lanka's batting coach till 2019 ICC Cricket World Cup. However, he stepped down from the role of Sri Lanka's batting coach in 2018 following the end of Sri Lanka's test series in New Zealand. During the New Zealand tour around 2018, he was known for serving as a personal mentor to Kusal Mendis and Thilan made sure that Kusal Mendis was not dropped for the test match at Wellington.

He was appointed as the fielding coach of the Kolkata Knight Riders in 2018 for the Indian Premier League. In 2019, he was roped in by New Zealand Cricket to work with New Zealand cricket team for the test tour of Sri Lanka.

In August 2021, he was included in New Zealand's coaching staff for the New Zealand cricket team's tour of Bangladesh and Pakistan.

license: Creative Commons - Attribution Share-Alike - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/

title: Thilan Samaraweera


text:
Najah Salah Ali

Najah Salah Ali (born c. 1980) is an Iraqi professional boxer, who was the only Iraqi boxer to qualify for the 2004 Athens, Greece Olympics.

Career
Ali became interested in boxing as a young child, but most boxing gyms in Iraq at the time were generally in bad shape, making it hard for him and his fellow young boxers to train.

Najah Ali grew during the Saddam Hussein era. He claims to have heard from other athletes about tortures committed against them by Hussein and his son Uday, but he himself was never hurt by them.

In 2002, Najah Ali won the Asian amateur boxing championship.

Olympics
After the United States invasion of Iraq in 2003, Ali met with Maurice Watkins, a former professional world title challenger who had been assigned by the American government to train Iraq's Olympic boxing team.

Ali and eight other Olympic hopefuls were put on a strong training regime by Watkins. Despite losing in qualifying competitions at different countries, Ali became the only Iraqi to qualify for the 2004 Olympic Games, earning a wild-card spot because of his sportsmanship, among other things.

After securing their Olympic spot, Ali and Watkins moved to New York, where they began to train at the legendary Gleason's Gym. Their story was subsequently shown at many United States outlets, including CNN.

Ali hoped to become Iraq's first Olympic boxing medalist, the second one overall, and the first Iraqi to earn a medal since a wrestler earned a bronze medal at the 1960 Rome Olympics. He competed in the light flyweight weight class (the lightest, for all boxers under 48 kilograms), winning his first bout vs a North Korean by a healthy margin of 21–7. In the second round, however, he was defeated by Aleksan Nalbandyan.

After Athens
Ali, who earned a bachelor's degree in computer science at Alrafdean University, applied to the University of Houston to continue his studies. He was accepted by the university, but has been denied a student visa four times by the United States Department of State.

At the Asian Games 2006 he lost his first match 21:30 to eventual runner-up Suban Pannon.

title: Najah Salah Ali


text:
Talk:Riding (division)

Untitled
The term "riding" in Canadian politics never had anything to do with horses.

The following links provide examples of how the term was used in the 19th century (and should clearly show the reader how the evovled from British usage into present Canadian usage)

http://www.parl.gc.ca/information/about/process/house/hfer/hfer.asp?Language=E&Search=Det&rid=80&Include=

http://www.parl.gc.ca/information/about/process/house/hfer/hfer.asp?Language=E&Search=Det&Include=Y&rid=81

http://www.parl.gc.ca/information/about/process/house/hfer/hfer.asp?Language=E&Search=Det&Include=Y&rid=79

http://www.parl.gc.ca/information/about/process/house/hfer/hfer.asp?Language=E&Search=Det&Include=Y&rid=83

Lindsey - Three Ridings or Four
Yes, I know, Riding rather implies three, but the following map shows N, S, E, and W Lindseys! http://www.yourmapsonline.org.uk/lincoln1895.jpg Any thoughts? Phlogistomania 15:07, Apr 19, 2005 (UTC)

Canada
As far as I can tell, "riding" is only a colloquialism, and is not an official designation. Both the Canada Elections Act and the Ontario Election Act  use only the term "electoral district", and do not use "riding". Of course, government agencies may use the colloquial term as do many Canadians, but it is not "official". Ground Zero 17:39, 20 July 2005 (UTC)

 * Also, I want to point out that the article states that the term riding was in use in the 19th century. However in British Columbia, where I'm from, the term riding is used all the time to refer to electoral districts. It's safe to say that the term is in everyday use. --70.77.37.70 05:27, 29 April 2007 (UTC)

Word History
I took out the claim that the word has been "known since 1295", since the earliest citation the OED has is 1066, in Latin like the 1295-6 quotation from the Rolls of Parliament. The latter is also preceded by quotations from the Domesday book (1086) and the Magna Carta (1215). The earliest English quotation is 13.., Estriding, and the earliest English example of the simplex given is rydding in 1514. --Dependent Variable, Jul 9, 2007.

Page move
This page 1566 links. Clearly the majority refer to Canadian electoral districts, and many more are governmental units in England and elsewhere. However, there are clearly hundreds of links where the meaning is horseriding (equestrianism). It's in many biographies, such as Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, and Diana, Princess of Wales. A particularly egregious case is Modern pentathlon, which has this:. I see this as a must move situation. We need to make riding]] a disambiguation page, and let the disambiguation gnomes look at these links. — Randall Bart (talk) 08:17, 11 August 2007 (UTC)

Yorkshire citations
Looks like someone went really insane with the citation needed tags for the Yorkshire section, was it really necessary to request a citation for every other word? — Preceding unsigned comment added by 82.32.30.220 (talk) 22:05, 17 February 2012 (UTC)
 * I have removed the tags as they are covered by the tag at the top of the section. Keith D (talk) 22:51, 18 February 2012 (UTC)

Misleading information about Dropping the initial th
"The modern form riding was the result of initial th being absorbed in the final th or t of the words north, south, east and west, by which it was normally preceded."

One of those is not like the others. OK, there was the book, but the word was already in its modern form by the time that were writ. It's confusing at best and at worst just plain wrong. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 2A02:2788:1008:2C3:E2CB:4EFF:FE88:1A2C (talk) 00:48, 30 April 2020 (UTC)

title: Talk:Riding (division)


text:
A3 motorway (Switzerland)

The A3 is a motorway in northeast Switzerland, running diagonally from France toward the southeast border, and passing by Zürich on the way. The total length of the A3 motorway spans roughly 180 km, but parts of the road share sections of the A1 and A2 motorways.

The A3 belongs to the Swiss motorway network. It starts at the border in Basel, where it connects to French motorway A35. From the Wiese Motorway Fork, the route is shared with the A2.

At Augst, the motorway splits, with the A2 branching off and the A3 continuing past Rheinfelden and Frick. After the Bözberg tunnel is the Birrfeld Motorway Fork, near Birmenstorf. Here, the A1 and A3 share the same route as far as Motorway Interchange Limmattal, where the A3 goes towards Urdorf and the Uetliberg Tunnel which was opened on May 4, 2009. After Zürich the motorway weaves through the hills of the south-east bank of Lake Zürich. It continues along the Walensee (Walen Lake), and on to Mels where it ends at a junction with the A13.

The A3 represents (together with a section of the A1) the most important connection between Basel and Zürich, and (together with a section of the A13) the most important connection Zürich–Chur.

Weesen-Murg
A special feature is the highway section at Lake Walen. Between Weesen and Murg in 1964, the N3 center was opened as a main road and led by the six tunnels: Ofenegg (370 m), Weisswand (1100 m), Standenhorn (460 m), Glattwand (160 m), Mühlehorn (300 m), and Stutz (180 m).

The highway section has been extended since 1986 with the opening of the Kerenzerberg Tunnel (5.76 km), which handles the road to Murg / Sargans. The old six tunnels and the road on the shores of Lake Walen were converted to unidirectional operation and now form the carriageway to Weesen / Zürich.

Zürich Western Bypass
Since May 4, 2009, with the opening of the highway section between the port Birmensdorf and Zürich, the branch South- the last section of the so-called "Western Bypass" - the A3 motorway is continuous between Basel and Sargans.

With the opening to traffic of the new section on May 4, two existing sections of highway have been renumbered. The leader in the city of Zürich Autobahnast Limmattal - Hardturm (always officially recorded as N1) is now known as A1 (Switzerland) or A1H (Shuttle Hardturm) rather than A3. The leading out of town Autobahnast Wiedikon - Zürich south, the so-called Sihlhochstrasse is referred to as the new A3W (feeder Wiedikon).

Also initiated, with the opening of the Western Bypass, the first stage of the flanking measures pass the residential areas along the former "West tangent" in the city of Zürich. The existing road trains, which were used for urban transit highway connection endpoints and Wiedikon Hardturm, were temporarily contracted on May 2, each for one traffic lane in each direction. In the following months until the summer of 2010, dismantling will continue of the "temporary" transit routes to district roads (West Street and Sihlfeldstrasse) and urban main roads (Seebahnstrasse und Schimmelstrasse)). In addition to various structural measures that are placed on the axis of incidence via Wollishofen and Albisrieden, additional traffic lights are used to regulate traffic flow in the metering equipment and make the side-traffic into the residential neighborhoods unattractive.

title: A3 motorway (Switzerland)


text:
Nuwan Zoysa

Demuni Nuwan Tharanga Zoysa (born 13 May 1978), or Nuwan Zoysa, is a former Sri Lankan cricketer. He was a tall left-arm seam bowler, who played 30 Tests and 95 One Day Internationals (ODIs) for Sri Lanka. Nuwan was educated at Isipathana College, Colombo.

In his eighth Test, Zoysa became the first player in history to take a hat-trick off his first three balls of a Test match. He achieved this against Zimbabwe at Harare in November 1999, dismissing Trevor Gripper, Murray Goodwin and Neil Johnson.

International career
Zoysa made his first-class debut in 1996/97 and during his first season he took his career best figures of 7 for 58, playing for Sinhalese Sports Club. He made his Test debut soon after in Dunedin against New Zealand. He took over 100 ODI wickets for Sri Lanka, becoming the eighth to have achieved the milestone in the 2004 Champions Trophy.

An aggressive lower order batsman, Zoysa once won an ODI against Australia with an unbeaten 47, his highest ODI score. Zoysa's peak in international cricket came during the 2004 season when he took his best Test and ODI figures and only five-wicket hauls. In May, he took 5 for 20 against Zimbabwe in the first Test at Harare and in August he claimed 5 for 26 in a ODI against South Africa in Colombo.

Domestic career
He made his Twenty20 debut on 17 August 2004, for Sinhalese Sports Club in the 2004 SLC Twenty20 Tournament. He was also bought by the Deccan Chargers Franchise in the IPL but he was removed from the team for his poor performances.

Coaching
Nuwan Zoysa was appointed to the National Fast Bowling Coaching Department of Sri Lanka Cricket on 1 October 2015 prior to which he has worked in India with Goa Cricket Association and with Royal College & Nondiscripts as Fast Bowling Coach before joining SLC.

In October 2018, he was charged by the International Cricket Council (ICC) for three breaches of the ICC Anti-Corruption Code. In November 2020, he was found guilty of three offences, and in April 2021, he was handed a six-year ban, backdated to 31 October 2018.

title: Nuwan Zoysa


text:
Tillakaratne Dilshan

Tillakaratne Mudiyanselage Dilshan (තිලකරත්න මුදියන්සේලාගේ ඩිල්ෂාන්; born 14 October 1976), commonly known as TM Dilshan is a former Sri Lankan cricketer and former captain of the Sri Lanka national cricket team. He is often regarded as the best rated Sri Lankan player in run-chases in ODI history and one of the most innovative players of all time. He is the top run scorer in 2011 ICC Cricket World Cup with 500 runs, and scored century against England in Quater final of ICC 2011 world cup. Dilshan is considered to be a rare example of a cricketer with notable skills in all aspects of the game, who can bat, bowl, field and keep wicket. He is an aggressive right-hand batsman who invented the scoop, which has come to be known as the Dilscoop, a shot that hits the ball over the keeper. Apart from being an opening batsman, he is also a capable off-break bowler. Energetic in the field, he usually fielded at the point region. He was part of the Sri Lankan team that won the 2014 ICC World Twenty20.

Dilshan made his Test and ODI debut during the Sri Lankan cricket team's tour to Zimbabwe in 1999. He is also the second cap for Sri Lanka in Twenty20 Internationals. He is the first cricketer in the history of the game to score hundreds in all formats as a captain.

Dilshan won the Twenty20 International Performance of the Year award at the 2009 ICC Awards for his 96 off 57 ball shots against West Indies in the semi-final of the 2009 ICC World Twenty20 in England. He also won the man of the series trophy for his individual batting performances in the 2009 ICC World Twenty20 tournament. He was also a key member of the team that won the 2014 ICC World Twenty20 and was part of the team that made the finals of 2007 Cricket World Cup, 2011 Cricket World Cup, 2009 ICC World Twenty20 and 2012 ICC World Twenty20.

He is the fourth Sri Lankan, and eleventh player overall to score 10,000 ODI runs. Being the third overall and first Sri Lankan to score 1,500 runs in Twenty20 Internationals, he is also the first player to hit 200 fours in T20Is. Dilshan scored 1000 or more ODI runs in a calendar year four times and never failed to amass fewer than 800 runs in any calendar year between 2009 and 2015. His innings of 104 not out is currently the highest individual T20 score made by a Sri Lankan in the format.

Dilshan was under-estimated in the cricket world as an ordinary player when he batted at number 6 and 7, unlike his revered teammates Mahela Jayawardene and Kumar Sangakkara. When he gained the opening batting position, Dilshan became one of the finest cricketers in the world and a legend in modern cricketing history. His quick progression can be seen in his stats: after he moved to the opening position, he scored 21 ODI centuries and all his Test and T20I centuries.

In August 2016, Dilshan announced that he would retire from both ODI and T20I cricket at the end of the series against Australia. He retired from ODI cricket on 28 August 2016 and from T20I cricket on 9 September 2016.

Early life and family
Dilshan was born on 14 October 1976 in Kalutara, to a Malay father and a Sinhalese mother in a family with five siblings. He was educated at Jaffna Sinhala Madya Maha Vidyalaya in Jaffna for primary education, and then at the Kalutara Vidyalaya, where he started his cricket career as a teenager. However, his family did not want him to play cricket, so his only goal was to get ahead in sports. Dilshan converted from Islam to Buddhism at the age of 16, and was known as Tuwan Mohammad Dilshan before his conversion. His childhood coach Ranjan Paranavitana stated that even though Dilshan had a Muslim name, he and his siblings followed their mother's religion during their childhood and officially changed his religion and name after his parents separated.

Dilshan was married to Nilanka Vithanage, with whom he has a son called Resadu Tillakaratne. After divorcing Dilshan, Nilanka filed a lawsuit over child alimony. He was issued with a notice to appear in court after the 2011 Cricket World Cup, but he refused some of these notices. The case was later settled with Dilshan to pay about 200,000 LKR each month for his ex-wife and his son.

The court case was opened again in 2017, after Dilshan had failed to pay some of the monthly fees. On 24 April 2017, Colombo Magistrate Courts issued an arrest warrant to Dilshan due to his absence in the Court. However, Dilshan finally appeared on court on 25 April 2017.

Dilshan is now married to Sri Lankan actress Manjula Thilini. Their marriage was celebrated in India during the 2008 IPL series. Dilshan has two daughters and two sons from this marriage. Their eldest daughter is Resandi Linama Tillakaratne, and second is Lasadi Dihasansa Tillakaratne. Their elder son is Dihela Dinhath Tillakaratne, and younger son was born in 2017.

Dilshan's brother, Tillakaratne Sampath, is a first-class cricketer in Sri Lanka.

Dilshan is a popular icon at home, and participated in many local events and television programs. He was also appointed as a special judge in Sirasa Superstar, Generation 4. He also participated in a number of entertainment shows, due to his wife's status as a popular Sri Lankan actress.

With the invention of his masterstroke play-Dilscoop, Dilshan models his fashion line with the name 'Dil Scoop'.

On 23 October 2014, Dilshan opened a small-scale luxury hotel, named as "Hotel 'D Pavilion Inn'", situated at Stafford Lane in Kirulapana. The hotel was opened in the presence of the former president of Sri Lanka, Mahinda Rajapakse.

After retiring from international cricket, Dilshan and his wife released a video song titled Hema Sansaraye. In February 2021, he released the music video Hitha Hadana Kena.

Dilshan made his television debut in an episode of Kopi Kade drama on 5 April 2017. He also acts alongside his wife in the teleplay Mithuu which is currently broadcast by Independent Television Network. and was one of the three judges of Sri Lanka's Got Talent reality program conducted by Sirasa TV.

Early career
Dilshan first played against Zimbabwe on 18 November 1999 at Bulawayo. He scored 9 runs on his debut and was out LBW to a delivery off Henry Olonga. However, Dilshan managed to score his maiden test century at the Harare Sports Club in the second test between Sri Lanka and Zimbabwe. He scored an unbeaten 163 runs in the first innings and was awarded the player of the match award for his role in the Sri Lankan victory. Dilshan achieved his highest test score in England, where he scored 193 runs in the second test at the Lord's cricket ground, against England.

Dilshan's One-Day International debut also came during Sri Lanka's tour of Zimbabwe in 1999, where he scored 31 runs against Zimbabwe. His maiden ODI century came against Netherlands on 4 July 2006, where he smashed an unbeaten 117 runs along with Sanath Jayasuriya's 157 to help Sri Lanka post then highest ODI score of 443 runs, which stood for 10 years until England scored 444 runs.

Dilshan real talent came through in their match against India on 15 December 2009, where Sri Lanka nearly chased a mammoth target of 414 posted by India. The pitch at Rajkot was perfect to bat on, Dilshan started the run chase with Tharanga, instead of Jayasuriya. In a blistering knock he reached fifty off 38 balls and then scored hundred off 73 balls. His 150 runs came off 115 balls with Sri Lanka on the brink of a sensational win. His score of 160 was full of hooks, pulls and many scoops of his variety, leading the way to victory. But after Dilshan fell when bowled by Harbhajan Singh, the match opened for the Indian team. They took all the advantages and Sri Lanka were bowled out for 411 runs, losing by only 3 runs. This was Dilshan's third century in ODIs, the commentators described it as one of the best chases in the World Cricket. His knock was later nominated to be one of the Best ODI Batting Performance of the year by ESPNcricinfo.

He was named in the 'Team of the Tournament' by ESPNcricinfo for the 2009 T20I World Cup. His knock of 96* against West Indies was later nominated to be one of the Best T20I Batting Performance of the year by ESPNcricinfo.

For his performances in 2009, he was named in the World ODI XI by the ICC.

Later career
Dilshan played almost all his international matches as a middle-order all-round batsman during his early years. However, by 2007, he was selected to open the batting with Sanath Jayasuriya in ODI game against India, where he started to showcase himself as an attacking and threatening opening batsman. Since 2007, his strokeplay has included a host of aggressive strokes which has allowed him to dominate the ODI arena on many occasions. Until retirement, he slotted as the permanent opening batsman for Sri Lanka, as well as operating as a handy right-arm off-break bowler in both ODI and T20I matches.

Dilshan is credited for the creation of the Dilscoop, which he stumbled upon and then perfected, during the Indian Premier League 2009 tournament. His innovative stroke play is acknowledged by many commentators and pundits thereby earning the recognition of being known as one of the most aggressive batsmen of all time. Apart from his Dilscoop, Dilshan is a prolific player of width possessing the ability to hit nearly any delivery pitched outside the off-stump for runs, and has perfected a lethal cover drive against pace bowlers.

2011 Cricket World Cup
Dilshan was the top run scorer in the 2011 Cricket World Cup. He scored 500 runs from nine One Day international innings with the best score of 144 runs against Zimbabwe. In the quarter-final against England, Dilshan along with Upul Tharanga, stood double hundred partnerships for the first wicket. This stands as the best ever chasing in a quarterfinal in a World Cup game. He scored two centuries, two half-centuries, 61 boundaries, and four sixes during the tournament which ended at the Wankhede Stadium in Mumbai, India, in April 2011.

He was named in the 'Team of the Tournament' for the 2011 World Cup by the ICC and ESPNcricinfo.

Captaincy
Immediately after the end of the ICC Cricket World Cup 2011, with Kumar Sangakkara stepping down as captain, Dilshan was appointed the captain of Sri Lanka in all formats of the game. Dilshan said after his retirement in ODIs that, he did not want to take the captaincy, but Sri Lanka Cricket asked him to take the captaincy for six months until they found someone suitable. He accepted the task, but the many troubles in the team such as retirements and injuries led him to reduce performances.

However, his appointment as captain was questioned by cricket fans and pundits alike. Many wondered if he was the right man to lead Sri Lanka. Dilshan scored 193 runs against England at Lord's, breaking the record for the highest individual score made by a Sri Lankan at the venue, and lead Sri Lanka to their maiden test win in South Africa. Losses to England, Australia, Pakistan and South Africa put strain on his captaincy, however, which he relinquished in January 2012.

He also said that he had a lack of support during captaincy tenure and help from former captains and coaches for the team. During Dilshan's captaincy, four coaches were introduced, but none succeeded.

Dilshan became the 5th player in international cricket to score centuries in all forms of the game. During the Australian tour of Sri Lanka in 2011, Dilshan scored an unbeaten century of 104* from just 54 balls in the first Twenty20 match of the series, becoming the 5th player to achieve the milestone after West Indian Chris Gayle, New Zealander Brendon McCullum, Indian Suresh Raina and fellow Sri Lankan Mahela Jayawardena and it is also the highest individual twenty20 international score by a Sri Lankan in the history. He scored the century from just 57 balls with 12 fours and 5 sixes. He achieved his century with a dilscoop hitting behind the wicket-keeper.

For his performances in 2011, he was named in the World ODI XI by the ICC. For his performances in 2013, he was named in the World ODI XI by the ICC.

In December 2011, Sri Lanka registered their first ever Test win in South Africa. This also became their first Test win under Dilshan's captaincy. However, after losing the Test series 2–1 and the subsequent ODI series 3–2, Dilshan resigned and was replaced by Mahela Jayawardene. In 2012, he was ranked the second-highest ODI run scorer, with 1119 runs, behind his teammate Kumar Sangakkara. For his performances in 2012, he was named in the ODI XI of the year by ESPNcricinfo.

Test retirement
Dilshan announced his retirement from Test cricket on 9 October 2013. Dilshan retired from test cricket in 2013 with his last match being played against Bangladesh at the R. Premadasa Stadium. Dilshan played 87 test matches amassing 5,492 runs, along with 16 centuries and 39 wickets.

Dilshan-Shehzad incident
On 4 September 2014, the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) issued Pakistani cricketer Ahmed Shehzad an official reprimand after his frequent quarrels with Dilshan about Dilshan's past and current religions. Shehzad was caught on camera telling Dilshan: "If you are a non-Muslim and you turn Muslim, no matter whatever you do in your life, straight to heaven."

Through the ranks
On 16 December 2014, in his 300th One-Day International, Dilshan scored his 18th ODI century and also passed 9,000 runs in ODIs. He became the fourth Sri Lankan cricketer and 15th overall to achieve this landmark. He also took 3 crucial wickets in the match against England and aided Sri Lanka's title claim as the winners of the tournament. He won both man of the match award and man of the series award.

On 23 January 2015, Dilshan scored his 20th One-Day International century against New Zealand, becoming the 10th batsmen to score 20 ODI centuries.

2015 Cricket World Cup
On 26 February 2015, he scored an unbeaten 161 runs during the group stage match of 2015 ICC Cricket World Cup against Bangladesh. This was his highest individual score in an ODI and was the highest score by a Sri Lankan in Cricket World Cup history, a title previously held by Aravinda de Silva, who scored 145 runs against Kenya in 1996. It was also the highest individual score without a six in ODI history and Dilshan's third score greater than 150. During his innings, he shared a 206* run second wicket partnership with Kumar Sangakkara. This was the highest second wicket partnership for Sri Lanka in ODIs, but was surpassed in the following match between Sri Lanka and England by a 212* run stand between Sangakkara and Lahiru Thirimanne.

On 1 March 2015, during a group match against England, Dilshan took his 100th ODI wicket by dismissing Gary Ballance off his own bowling, thus becoming the third Sri Lankan to score 3000 runs and take 100 wickets after Jayasuriya and Aravinda.

During a group match against Australia, Dilshan scored 24 runs off a Mitchell Johnson over by hitting six consecutive 4s, a first in World Cup history.

Dilshan's teammates, Sangakkara and Mahela, retired from ODI cricket following Sri Lanka's loss to South Africa in the quarterfinals. When asked about retirement, Dilshan stated that until Sri Lanka found a good opening batsman he would continue to feature in the shorter forms of the game for about 2 years or so. Dilshan got out without scoring in the quarterfinals and Sri Lanka exited the World Cup without making the semifinals for the first time since 2003.

Post-World Cup
On 26 July 2015, Dilshan passed 10,000 ODI runs during the fifth ODI against Pakistan at Hambantota. With this, he became the fourth Sri Lankan and eleventh overall to achieve the milestone.

Dilshan was the second person after Sanath Jayasuriya to score more than 4000 ODI runs after the age of 35 and surpassed Jayasuriya's record of 4,142 runs in 2015. Until retirement, Dilshan has scored 4,674 ODI runs after the age of 35, most by a player.

On 9 November 2015, Dilshan became the highest run scorer for Sri Lanka in Twenty20 Internationals passing 1,493 runs of Mahela Jayawardena. With this feat, Dilshan also became the first Sri Lankan and third overall to pass 1,500 T20I runs, milestone achieved after Brendon McCullum, and JP Duminy. Until his retirement, he was only behind McCullum by runs in T20Is.

During the third ODI against New Zealand on 31 December 2015, Dilshan smashed 91 runs to reach another milestone in his career. Dilshan surpassed 1202 runs by Jayasuriya as most runs by an opening batsman for Sri Lanka in a calendar year. Dilshan scored 1207 runs in the year 2015 with 4 hundreds and 6 fifties.

Dilshan finished 2015 ODI arena as the highest ODI run scorer for Sri Lanka and third highest of all-time list. During 25 ODIs played in 2015, Dilshan scored 1,207 runs with the average of 52.47 and strike rate of 90.75. The veteran of 39 years of age, Dilshan showcased incredible all-around ability and had no mercy for the bowlers for all nations, got 4 hundreds and 6 fifties. Until retirement in August, Dilshan has surpassed more than 800 runs each in four consecutive years from 2012 to 2015. For his performances in 2015, he was named in the World ODI XI by ICC.

Dilshan was not totally successful in 2016 Asia Cup, where Sri Lanka lost to Bangladesh and India lost the way to the finals. On 4 March 2016, against Pakistan, Dilshan reached another milestone by hitting 200 fours in all twenty20 internationals and the first player to break 200 fours in T20Is.

Dilshan's consistency as the leading run scorer for Sri Lanka in Twenty20 cricket proved in the 2016 ICC World Twenty20, when he scored unbeaten 83 runs against Afghanistan in a pool match. The innings reached by Afghanistan was 153 and, Dilshan started the innings with showers of four and sixes in a consecutive manner in first six overs. Sri Lanka reached the winning moment in the 19th over with 6 wickets in hand, courtesy of man of the match performance by Dilshan. After that innings, in rest of the pool matches against West Indies and England, Dilshan got out by poor umpire decisions and Sri Lanka eliminated from the first round. Dilshan finished his last international major event as the highest scorer for Sri Lanka with 133 runs at an average of 44.33.

Limited over retirement
Dilshan was not included in the England tour in 2016; which was due to his personal reasons. But, some local media stated that, the conflict between Dilshan and Sri Lanka Cricket board for his retirement consideration was the actual cause for the refuse for England tour. However, Dilshan denied these rumors. On 25 August 2016, Dilshan announced his retirement from the international arena after the Australian tour. The news stated that, due to immense pressure exerted by the selection committee to reform the limited over squad for upcoming World Cup, the team should have many immediate challenges to do. This forced Dilshan to announce and speed up his intentions to retire from limited overs.

Many Sri Lankan cricketers wished Dilshan and spoke about him as:

He played his last ODI at Rangiri Dambulla Stadium on 28 August 2016. He scored 42 runs in his last ODI innings. As said by skipper Angelo Mathews, the match was dedicated to Dilshan, and a win could give him a good farewell. The ground was covered by many tributes to Dilshan highlighting that "A member of 10,000 run club, A legacy of the Dilscoop", "What a Run", "Dilshan You Have Made Us Proud", and "Thank You Dilshan". However, Sri Lanka lost the match by 2 wickets at the end. Until his retirement from ODIs, Dilshan is the 11th highest ODI scorer of all time and 7th highest century maker of all time.

He played his last Twenty20 International at R Premadasa Stadium on 9 September 2016. He got out for a just single run in the match, but his fielding and bowling came back to the highest level. He took 2 crucial wickets at the end of the Australian innings, by ending 17 years of cricketing career. He ended his international career with a wicket off his last ball. At the time of his retirement, Dilshan was the second highest T20I run scorer of all time. Commentators summarized his career with the quote "Legends Never Retires".

Road Safety World Series
In 2020, Dilshan was announced as the captain of Sri Lanka Legends for the charity T20 cricket tournament titled 2020–21 Road Safety World Series. In the first match against Australia Legends, Dilshan scored 14 runs took 3 wickets, where Sri Lanka Legends won the match by 6 runs. Dilshan won the man of the match award. In the second match, Indian Legends beat Sri Lankan Legends by 5 wickets. However, Sri Lanka Legends later won all the league matches against West Indies, Bangladesh, England and South Africa and became the first team to reach semi finals. Dilshan became the anchor man in every game, where he scored fifties against South Africa and England Legends. In the semi-final against South African Legends, Sri Lanka won the match comfortably and reached the finals. In the final against Indian Legends, Sri Lanka had the momentum to chase the total of 181 posted by Indians, but later fell 14 runs short. However, Dilshan became the Player of the Series due to his allround match winning performances. Dishan is the highest run scorer of the tournament with 271 runs and highest wicket taker with 12 wickets. He also hit the most boundaries (47) in the tournament.

Beyond cricket
On 1 August 2015, Dilshan and fellow Sri Lankan cricketer Muttiah Muralitharan were appointed as the brand ambassadors for the Presidential Task Force to combat kidney disease by the President Maithripala Sirisena.

Politics
Dilshan publicly displayed his support to Mahinda Rajapaksa at the 2015 Presidential Election. He did so by welcoming Mahinda Rajapakse to Maharagama for an election rally. In 2018, Dilshan announced that he had joined Mahinda Rajapaksa's Sri Lanka Podujana Peramuna party.

In 2018, Dilshan praised the president, Maithripala Sirisena for deciding to implement the Death penalty for drug traffickers. "Not only for drugs, it should be implemented for child abuse and rape cases", he said, adding that the decision should have been made a long time ago.

Music and acting
After retiring from international cricket, Dilshan and his wife released a video song titled Hema Sansaraye. In February 2021, he released the music video Hitha Hadana Kena.

Dilshan made his television debut in an episode of Kopi Kade drama on 5 April 2017. He also acts alongside his wife in the teleplay Mithuu which is currently broadcast by Independent Television Network. and was one of the three judges of Sri Lanka's Got Talent reality program conducted by Sirasa TV.

Personal life
Dilshan is now married to Sri Lankan actress Manjula Thilini. Their marriage was celebrated in India during the 2008 IPL series. Dilshan has two daughters and two sons from this marriage. Their eldest daughter is Resandi Linama Tillakaratne, and second is Lasadi Dihasansa Tillakaratne. Their elder son is Dihela Dinhath Tillakaratne, and younger son was born in 2017.

Dilshan's brother, Tillakaratne Sampath, is a first-class cricketer in Sri Lanka.

Dilshan is a popular icon at home, and participated in many local events and television programs. He was also appointed as a special judge in Sirasa Superstar, Generation 4. He also participated in a number of entertainment shows, due to his wife's status as a popular Sri Lankan actress.

With the invention of his masterstroke play-Dilscoop, Dilshan models his fashion line with the name 'Dil Scoop'.

On 23 October 2014, Dilshan opened a small-scale luxury hotel, named as "Hotel 'D Pavilion Inn'", situated at Stafford Lane in Kirulapana. The hotel was opened in the presence of the former president of Sri Lanka, Mahinda Rajapakse.

Test matches

 * He has the highest score scored in Lord's Cricket Ground by a Sri Lankan, where he scored 193 runs in 2013.
 * Highest partnership for the fifth wicket – 280 by Tillakaratne Dilshan and Thilan Samaraweera against Bangladesh in 2005.
 * Only Sri Lankan to scored centuries in both innings in his 50th Test.

One-Day Internationals

 * Most runs as an opener for Sri Lanka in a calendar year – 1207 runs in 2015.

Twenty20 Internationals

 * Highest run scorer for Sri Lanka – 1,889 runs in 80 matches.
 * At the time he retired he was the second-leading run scorer in T20I matches.
 * Highest individual score in T20I by a Sri Lankan – 104 not out against Australia in 2011.
 * He has the most catches in T20Is by a Sri Lankan – 31 in 80 matches.
 * Highest partnership for the first wicket – 124 with Sanath Jayasuriya against West Indies in 2009.
 * Highest partnership for the fourth wicket – 104 unbroken with Jeevan Mendis against Australia in 2011.

World Cups

 * Highest individual score by a Sri Lankan – 161 not out against Bangladesh in 2015.
 * Highest opening partnership – 282 with Upul Tharanga against Zimbabwe in 2011.
 * Oldest cricketer to score a century – 104 against Scotland in 2015.

International centuries
Dilshan has 16 Test centuries, 22 One-Day International centuries, and 1 Twenty20 International century. He is the first cricketer in the history to score centuries in all formats as a captain. He is the second Sri Lankan and fifth overall to achieve international centuries in all forms of the game. Dilshan has scored 39 centuries (100 or more runs) in Test matches, One Day International (ODI) matches and Twenty20 International (T20I), organized by the International Cricket Council. Dilshan has scored 16 centuries in Test matches and 22 centuries in ODIs, and one in T20Is.

Dilshan scored his 16th and last Test century on 18 March 2013 at the Galle International Stadium in Galle against Bangladesh. His 17th ODI century comes in his favorite ground Pallekele International Cricket Stadium on 28 July 2013 against South Africa, where at this ground he scored 5 ODI centuries and also his only Twenty20 International century against Australia on 6 August 2011.

In Test matches, Dilshan has scored centuries against all the Test cricket playing nations except South Africa and West Indies, and has scored 150 against four of them. He is seventh on the list of leading Test century makers for Sri Lanka. His centuries have been scored at ten cricket grounds, six of which were outside Sri Lanka. He has been dismissed two times in the nineties.

In ODIs, Dilshan has scored centuries against all test playing opponents except West Indies. His maiden century was made against Netherlands at the VRA Cricket Ground, Amstelveen in 2006. He is third in the list of leading century-makers in ODIs for Sri Lanka. Of these 22 ODI centuries, nine were scored at home grounds and thirteen were at away (opposition's home) or neutral venues. He has been dismissed one time in the ninetynine.

Dilshan scored his only T20I century against Australia in 2011, and became the fifth batsmen to score hundreds in all forms of the game. He scored 104 runs from 57 balls. This is the highest individual score by a Sri Lankan in Twenty20 Internationals.

Awards and honours

 * ICC Twenty20 International Performance of the Year 2009
 * ICC ODI Team of the Year – included in four years (2009, 2011, 2013, 2015)
 * Dialog SLC People's Player of the Year 2015 (with 493,196 votes)
 * Dialog SLC T20 Batsman of the Year 2015

title: Tillakaratne Dilshan


text:
Wikipedia:Articles for deletion/User talk:68.48.167.231

Tally 5 merge, 2 keep as of 22:37 (UTC) 21 Sep 2004.

We have a vicious vandal bot attack here. Check this IP's history. All its entries are substubs about "Twilight Zone" episodes. They've been coming in for hours, sometimes one a minute. These also came in en masse about a week ago via the same proxy. I've also listed this on the "Vip" page. Help! - Lucky 6.9 05:53, 12 Aug 2004 (UTC)
 * I took a look at the pages created. That is one sophisticated bot!  Seriously, I think its probably a big Twilight Zone fan rather than a bot.  Probably a very fast typist.  Why do you want to delete the user talk page? The Steve 10:03, Aug 12, 2004 (UTC)
 * I strongly disagree with the idea that the creation of substubs is an act of vandalism. I also disagree with deleting a banned anon user's talk page. -Sean Curtin 14:24, 12 Aug 2004 (UTC)
 * Sorry. I should have made myself clear.  There are just so many of these that listing each individual entry would have been a waste of time and space.  I've posted the user page (which I began anyway) as a means to check the individual entries and to bring attention to the fact that several attempts at contact were made before nominating the entries themselves, not necessarily the talk page. - Lucky 6.9 18:19, 12 Aug 2004 (UTC)
 * IMHO the talk page should be kept for a reasonable amount of time; even if flagging up anons' new messages doesn't work yet, it might in the future, and this user might want to know why they've been banned. -Sean Curtin 21:35, 12 Aug 2004 (UTC)
 * Excellent idea. Keep the user page for a limited amount of time if the other articles are deleted. - Lucky 6.9 17:40, 13 Aug 2004 (UTC)
 * Delete all substubs created by this user. --Jiang 23:01, 12 Aug 2004 (UTC)
 * merge all stubs/substubs --Jiang 23:47, 14 Aug 2004 (UTC)
 * Keep them they are good. Eric B. and Rakim 23:37, 12 Aug 2004 (UTC)
 * Based on a spot-check of the stubs created, they seem reasonable and did not show up as obvious copyright violations. Can you please explain in more detail what concerns you about these articles?  (Keep for now.)  Rossami 20:51, 13 Aug 2004 (UTC)
 * Of course. They're little more than unformatted text dumps with near-useless titles and more than one user has expressed concern over individual synopses of non-notable television episodes.  I couldn't find anything that matched as a copyvio, but I did find a couple of sites that list the information on a single page.  If they aren't copyvios, and since they are factual, I would encourage that these all be merged under a single page, titled along the lines of List of Twilight Zone Revival episodes, or even merged onto an existing page.  It's very unlikely that anyone at all would try to find info on a single episode of a relatively unremarkable revival series without first searching for a list.  The parentheticals pretty much assure that these will be nothing but orphans. - Lucky 6.9 21:38, 13 Aug 2004 (UTC)
 * Merge into a single article is fine. I suggest Twilight Zone (1985) Delete or redirect the stubs? The Steve 05:21, Aug 14, 2004 (UTC)
 * Let's make lemonade out of lemons. Merge all into a single article and delete the individual stubs.  No need for redirects as far as I can tell.  A list is born! - Lucky 6.9 06:50, 14 Aug 2004 (UTC)
 * No such animal as "merge and delete" under the GFDL, as user attribution is lost. I vote to merge and redirect. -Sean Curtin 09:11, 16 Aug 2004 (UTC)
 * Merge. Very short articles are mostly bad. Unannotated lists are mostly bad. Annotated lists are good (well at least more likely to be good). Jallan 16:40, 15 Aug 2004 (UTC)

Note: I have just come to count up the tally of this discussion, and the consensus is certainly to merge the articles together. The only difficulty with that is that not all of the Twilight Zone episodes that have articles were created by this user, and some of the others are actually quite decent articles - are these to be merged also? See List of The Twilight Zone episodes for this full list. -- Graham ☺ | Talk 22:37, 21 Sep 2004 (UTC)