Tillakaratne Dilshan

Tillakaratne Dilshan
Personal information
Full name
Tillakaratne Mudiyanselage Dilshan
Born
14 October 1976 (1976-10-14) (age 33)Kalutara, Sri Lanka
Batting style
Right-handed
Bowling style
Right arm off spin
Role
Batsman
International information
National side
Sri Lanka
Test debut (cap 80)
18 November 1999 v Zimbabwe
Last Test
26 August 2009 v New Zealand
ODI debut (cap 102)
11 December 1999 v Zimbabwe
Last ODI
27 September 2009 v New Zealand
ODI shirt no.
18
Domestic team information
Years 2000 – present
Team Bloomfield C&AC
1998 – 2000
Sebastianites C&AC

Tillakaratne Mudiyanselage Dilshan (born October 14, 1976 in Kalutara, Sri Lanka) is a Sri Lankan cricketer and member of the Sri Lankan national cricket team since November 1999. Known as Tuwan Mohammad Dilshan prior to his conversion from Islam to Buddhism, an aggressive right-hand batsman, he is also a capable spin bowler and his off breaks are mostly used in the one-day arena. T.M. Dilshan won the award of Twenty20 International Performance of the Year in ICC awards 2009 of his breezy 96 off 57 balls against West Indies in the semi-final of the 2009 ICC World Twenty20 in England.

Personal life
Born to a Malay family, Dilshan converted from Islam to Buddhism at an early age. He has a five year old son from his first marriage. He is now married to Sri Lankan teledrama actress Manjula Thilini. The marriage was celebrated in India during IPL 2008 series, following Indian rituals.


Career
Dilshan made his Test debut against Zimbabwe in 1999. He scored his maiden Test hundred in the series with a 163. Dilshan also made his One day international debut against Zimbabwe before spending the next 15 months in and out of the side. Even when he played he never knew his place in the side as he was constantly being pushed up and down the order.
His revival as an international cricketer came in 2003. In four consecutive Test innings he scored 63, 100, 83 and 104. The latter came against the world champion Australian side at Galle. In September 2005 Dilshan scored his most recent Test century, an innings of 168 off just 179 balls against Bangladesh.
In first final of the 2005-06 VB Series, Dilshan's fielding made headlines when he made four run outs.
In November 2007, Dilshan scored 188 for Bloomfield Cricket and Athletic Club against Colts Cricket Club in a 50 over game. The innings is the joint 14th highest score made in any List A cricket match (alongside Gary Kirsten's 188 in 1996), and came from just 135 balls, at a strike rate of 139.25. He hit 14 fours and 12 sixes before being bowled by fellow Sri Lankan international Nuwan Kulasekara. The scorecard for the game can be found here
In 2009 T20 world cup series, Dilshan became player of the series with 317 runs in seven matches which includes three half centuries. He maintained a 52.83 batting average throughout the series, which was the fourth best among all the cricketers, behind AJ Matthews (Sri Lanka) with 75, J Kallis (South Africa) with 59.5 and Younis Khan (Pakistan) with 57.33.
His scoop, played straight over the wicket keeper's head, was displayed for the first time during this tournament and came to be known as the Dilscoop in his honour.

Mendis arrives

The man who made every ball compelling

Players/Officials: Ajantha Mendis Rahul Dravid
Matches: Sri Lanka v India at Colombo (SSC)
Series/Tournaments: India tour of Sri Lanka
Teams: Sri Lanka
Other links: 50 Magic Moments

I have never watched cricket more intently. Australia in India 2000-01, and the 2005 Ashes were both engrossing drama, but neither made me want to not miss any part of them as much as India in Sri Lanka, 2008, did. Sehwag played the innings of the year in Galle, Murali was his devious self, Jayawardene silken, the umpiring decision reviews had to be watched, Ishant bowled a rousing spell, but it was Ajantha Mendis who demanded every ball be watched.
And it was challenging, to watch every ball of long spells closely, trying to read from behind (I was watching on TV) what it would be - regulation offbreak, carrom ball breaking away, the two-fingered googly, or the non-spinning carrom ball. It was rewarding, too, for this was a bowler unlike any I had seen.
In July 2008, Mendis was a complete mystery. He didn't grow in the public eye, he spoke only Sinhala, his captain didn't talk a lot about him in public and admitted to not knowing - at times - what fields to set for Mendis because he didn't know what he was going to bowl.
The function of Mendis' left hand could not be overstated; it was like the final salute. Abdul Qadir used to hold it up in the air before he started to run in, Mendis' left came down with the index finger stuck out, ruling the batsman out even before he had bowled. When he beat the batsman, he grinned in a sinister manner; he knew a secret the batsman didn't.
The run-up was a letdown, innocuous-looking even: no angular run, no contortion, no getting the body into unnatural positions. He didn't impart much violence onto the ball, he seemed to merely caress it out of the hand as if sending a trained pet out to show the world another trick.
The arrival was perfect too: in his first four overs in Test cricket, he troubled Rahul Dravid with the carrom ball; in his fifth he had him bowled. It was a rare sight. Dravid stayed on the back foot, unsure of how much the ball would turn, jabbed at the wrong line, desperately tried to get his pad in line, but it was all a blur, the off stump was out, Mendis had arrived. Dravid's face, as captured in a photograph too, showed he hadn't seen anything like it before.

Sri Lanka tour of India

Kandamby, Kaushal Silva get Test call-ups
Series/Tournaments: Sri Lanka tour of India
Teams: Sri Lanka
Two uncapped players, left-hand middle-order batsman Thilina Kandamby and wicketkeeper-batsman Kaushal Silva, have been named in Sri Lanka's Test squad for the tour of India starting next month. Another major change in the 16-man line-up for the three-Test series was a recall for left-arm fast bowler Chanaka Welegedera after a two-year absence from the senior side. The notable absentees are opener Malinda Warnapura and middle-order batsman Chamara Kapugedera.
Kandamby has made it to the Test squad on the strength of his exceptional one-day form. Since his recall to the one-day side last year, Kandamby has been one of Sri Lanka's consistent performers scoring 618 runs from 17 ODIs at an average of 44.14 including five half-centuries.
Silva is highly rated by captain Kumar Sangakkara, who once said that it was the presence of the world's best Test wicketkeeper in the side, Prasanna Jayawardene, that was keeping Silva on the sidelines. A right-hand middle order batsman Silva has been a prolific scorer for Sinhalese Sports Club in the domestic circuit and captained Sri Lanka A against Pakistan A early this year.
Welegedera, 28, played his only Test against England at Galle in 2007 where he took four wickets for 76 and was hailed as the likely successor to Sri Lanka's most successful fast bowler, Chaminda Vaas. However, Welegedera failed to live up to the high expectations and faded out of contention until last season when he came back strongly with some inspiring bowling performances for Wayamba in the provincial tournament to stake a claim for a place in the Test side.
Welagedera also gets a nod in for the two Twenty20s along with hard-hitting Chintaka Jayasinghe and Kaushalya Weeraratne and allrounder Muthumudalige Pushpakumara. For the five one-day internationals, fast bowler Dilhara Fernando has been recalled.

Tests:
Kumar Sangakkara (capt), Muttiah Muralitharan, Mahela Jayawardene, Tillakaratne Dilshan, Tharanga Paranavitana, Thilan Samaraweera, Angelo Mathews, Thilina Kandamby, Prasanna Jayawardene (wk), Kaushal Silva, Chanaka Welegedara, Thilan Thushara, Nuwan Kulasekera, Dammika Prasad, Rangana Herath, Ajantha Mendis.

Twenty20s:
Kumar Sangakkara (capt/wk), Muttiah Muralitharan, Mahela Jayawardene, Sanath Jayasuriya, Tillakaratne Dilshan, Chamara Kapugedara, Angelo Mathews, Chinthaka Jayasinghe, Kaushal Weeraratne, Ajantha Mendis, Muthumudalige Pushpakumara, Chanaka Welegedara, Thilan Thushara, Lasith Malinga, Nuwan Kulasekera.

ODIs:
Kumar Sangakkara (capt/wk), Muttiah Muralitharan, Mahela Jayawardene, Tillakaratne Dilshan, Chamara Kapugedara, Tilina Kandamby, Upul Tharanga, Angelo Mathews, Thilan Samaraweera, Sanath Jayasuriya, Lasith Malinga, Dilhara Fernando, Thilan Thushara, Nuwan Kulasekera, Ajantha Mendis.