Contest Entry : Most Underrated International Cricketer

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Talk about a child from Kurunegala in Sri Lanka who aspired to be a left arm fast bowler since childhood, who also worked as a clerk in a commercial bank in his early years. Little did he know that one day he would become the most successful left arm spinner in the history of Test cricket.

Rangana Herath is one of the most calm and composed cricketer ever, like most Sri Lankan guys are, much to my liking. Having made his Test debut way back in 1999, it is a well accepted general opinion that the short statured slow left armer couldn't bloom to his full potential due to the presence of fellow spinner Muttiah Muralitharan in the national side, Sri Lanka's greatest cricketing product ever.

From his debut till 2008, Herath picked up 36 wickets in 14 Tests at an ordinary average of 39. However, when life gives a second chance, you grab it with both hands. Since then he's proven to be such a revelation for Sri Lankan cricket.

Source

Murali retired in 2010 and after that Herath came to Sri Lanka's rescue on many occasions with match winning bowling performances. In 79 Tests since 2008, the witty slow operator bagged an impressive 397 wickets. In the process he surpassed Kiwi left arm spinner Daniel Vettori who has 362 scalps to his name.

In an interview some time back, Herath said he almost gave up hope of playing for Sri Lanka again and wanted to pursue a career in English County cricket. But he got the lucky break he deserved.

When asked if he had any regrets before stepping away from Test cricket, the Sri Lankan legend simply replied, “Not winning in India.” He said during an interview with the Hindustan Times, “I have been part of the side when we won all over the world, but not winning in India was a bitter pill to swallow. We had a good chance in Ahmedabad in 2009. We took a massive first-innings lead of 350 runs, but Sachin Tendulkar and Gautam Gambhir scored hundreds in the second innings and saved the game. [We] should have won that.” Source

So naturally Rangana Herath came to my mind while I sat down to write about the most underrated cricketer. Having worked so hard in the background during his time away from the national team, Herath came out like a live bomb ready to explode on the international scene. His experience paid great dividends to the Sri Lankan cricket which looked clueless and without a spine (in my honest opinion) after the departure of so many greats in the last few years.

In the ODI scene as well, Sri Lanka kept on producing a lot of mystery spinners over time since the end of last decade. So Herath didn't get a break into the national side. However most of them were short-lived and disappeared from the scene soon.

With 9 ten wicket hauls and 34 five wicket hauls, Herath finished with 433 total Test wickets in 93 matches at an average of 28.07. He decided to hang his boots in 2018.

Source

References:

• https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rangana_Herath
• https://caughtatpoint.com/2018/11/05/legend-rangana-herath-retires-tribute/

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I would like to thank @damithudaya and @world-of-cricket for organizing this Contest and allowing us to express our love for the game through words. Good work, people.