As a player, what can you expect after contributing for your country for a total period of 17 years, may be breaking another record or winning another series? A badge of a senior? A badge of being responsible? Captaincy…? No, Nah! Not at all as for how can a player expect a thing that had never happened in 17 years.

But yes dreams are fulfilled, better late than never.

The Sri Lankan spinner with a golden arm, Rangana Herath, will be a happy man today as the oldest member of Sri Lankan squad is set to lead his time for the first time in 17 years in the first Test match against Zimbabwe that will be played from October 29 at Harare. Captaincy to him comes as a surprise as incidentally, the vice-captain Dinesh Chandimal is also absent from the squad due to an injury. An injury to Angelo Mathews has now left no choice but to give Herath his captaincy debut.

What better can Ranga ask for? For the first 13 years of his career, he played under the shadow of legendary spinner Muttiah Muralitharan, who went on to become the highest wicket-taker in Test and ODI’s. Still, unlike many other players, Ranga was able to cut out a niche for himself and used to play Test matches on regular basis despite being the second preference of the captain.

But he never asked for anything. He was a silent farmer who used to do the hard work and waited for the seed to grow. No complaints, no demand.

Destiny has something else on the other hand. He is now set to become the second oldest captain for Sri Lanka after Somachandra De Silva.

The two match Test series will kick-off on October 29, a tri-series will follow the Test series with West Indies n=being the third participant.