The 37-year-old is remembered by Indian fans as the bowler MS Dhoni hit for a six to win the 2011 World Cup.
Nuwan Kulasekara. (File Photo: Facebook/@NuwanKulasekaraOfficial)
Sri Lanka medium-fast bowler Nuwan Kulasekara on Wednesday announced retirement from all forms of international cricket with immediate effect.
Kulasekara, known for his ability to swing the ball both ways, was a successful new ball bowler for Sri Lanka in the limited-over formats. Not just with the new ball, Kulasekara was a fine bowler at the death too. The right-arm bowler’s ability to deliver toe-crushing yorkers in pressure situations saw him gain an eminent spot in the Sri Lankan line up.
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Kulasekara played 184 ODIs for Sri Lanka taking 199 wickets — Sri Lanka’s fifth-highest wicket-taker in ODIs. And from the 58 T20I matches he played, he has 66 wickets against his name — joint second-highest with Ajantha Mendis for Sri Lanka in T20Is. Lasith Malinga, who also announced his retirement from ODIs on Tuesday, tops the chart with 97 wickets.
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Kulasekara last played an ODI in 2017 for Sri Lanka. He made his ODI debut in 2003 against England.
A bowler who had a successful limited-over career failed to impress in Tests. From the 21 Test matches Kulasekara played, before hanging up his boots from the longest format of the game in 2016, he took 48 wickets.
Kulasekara was part of Sri Lanka’s three World Cup squads. He played two World Cup finals and finished with runners-up medals on both the occasions as the islanders lost to Australia and India in the 2007 and 2011 World Cup finals, respectively.
The 37-year-old is remembered by Indian fans as the bowler MS Dhoni hit for a six to win the 2011 World Cup.
(With inputs from IANS)
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