Name:

Herath, Rangana

Date of Birth:

19 Mar 1978

Gender:

Men

Place of Birth:

Kurunegala

Career:

Test: 1999 - 2015
ODI: 2004 - 2015
T20: 2011 - 2016

Teams:

Sri Lanka (Country)

Profile: Rangana Herath steps out of Murali's shadow

Rangana Herath: Wily spinner was a worthy successor to Murali

Master spinner Rangana Herath led the Sri Lankan attack after the retirement of legendary spinner Muttiah Muralitharan in 2010. Herath holds the record of the best bowling figures in Tests by any left-arm bowler. He took 433 wickets in 93 Tests to overtake Wasim Akram.

Herath is a stocky character standing at only 5ft 5in. He uses his lack of height to use clever variations of flight that lulls the batsman into making mistakes. He also has a well disguised arm ball and carrot ball.

Herath’s trademark is his accuracy. He also uses the angle of the crease, a higher or lower arm action and subtle variations to cause uncertainty and unnerve batsmen.

He started out at a teenager from a regional centre - Kurunegela and made his Test debut in a winning series against Australia in 1999. This makes Herath the last surviving cricketer who made his Test debut in the 20th century that was playing upto 2018.

Herath took only 75 Tests to reach 350 wickets. He is the second-quickest spinner after Muttiah Muralitharan to reach this mark. Overall, he is the sixth-fastest bowler to 350 wickets.

He was appointed as the stand in captain on the Zimbabwe tour in 2016 when Angelo Mathews was injured. Herath took 8-63 as Sri Lanka beat Zimbabwe in the 2nd Test to take the series 2-0. Herath finished with figures of 13 for 152 in the match. This is a record haul for a skipper.

Herath retired from international cricket at the end of the 1st Test against England in 2018. He is now a spin coach.

Source: CricketCrowd Staff Reporter