Rangana Herath announces retirement from limited overs cricket
Apr 17, 2016 at 3:49 PM
In order to focus more on his test career veteran, Sri Lankan spinner Rangana Herath has announced his retirement from limited-overs cricket.
The left-arm spinner submitted a letter expressing his intention to retire from ODI and T20I cricket with immediate effect and Sri Lanka Cricket (SLC) accepted his request, SLC Secretary Mohan de Silva said.
As a left-arm spinner, his strengths are his accuracy and his ability to bowl long spells, but to that, he has added a ‘mystery’ ball, a delivery that is quicker and darts back into the right-hander. After the retirement of legendary spinner Muttiah Muralitharan, he was
Sri Lanka’s go-to man in bowling department but his role was mainly limited to limited overs cricket in the past couple of years due to a knee injury.
“In the next eight months or so, we’re scheduled to play something like 12 Test matches,” Herath said. “I think retiring from the shorter formats is the right move, because that will allow young players to be groomed for the next World Cup, as well as lowering my workload and letting me concentrate on Tests.”
In a recent interview with Wisden – India during the WT20, Herath described his uncomplicated style by saying “Wherever I go, I try not to change anything. I give the ball air and try to get the batsmen out. ….. I figure out the conditions… I have faith in me that I can adjust to the conditions” – a philosophy that made him tough to tackle in any condition.
He will be always remembered for his bowling performances in Sri Lanka’s victorious 2014 World T20 campaign, delivering one of the best spells of that tournament. His 5 wickets for 3 runs in a virtual quarter-final against New Zealand is arguably the best-ever T20 bowling performance. He was also effective in the semi-final and final of that tournament, and had also been incisive in the 2012 World T20 semi-final, against Pakistan, where he claimed 3 wickets for 25.
We all wish him more success in his life.
Rangana Herath’s career stats:
ODI:
Matches: 71
Wickets: 74
Best bowling performance: 4/20
Economy: 4.37
Average: 31.91
Strike Rate: 43.8
T20:
Matches: 17
Wickets: 18
Best bowling performance: 5/3
Economy: 6.13
Average: 20.72
Strike Rate: 20.2