Nuwan Kulasekara Retires From International Cricket

Former Sri Lanka pacer Nuwan Kulasekara announced his retirement from international cricket on Wednesday. His retirement news came in the following day after his former bowling partner Lasith Malinga confirmed his retirement from ODIs after the first match against Bangladesh on July 26.

Nuwan Kulasekara, however, was not featured in Sri Lanka‘s World Cup 2019 squad. He last played in 2017 and hadn’t played any competitive cricket at the senior level since March 2018. Although he played List-A cricket in between this.

Kulasekara was known for his ability to swing the ball in both ways and one of the successful bowlers for Sri Lanka in the limited-over games. He was good in death overs as well and his ability to ball accurate yorkers under pressure was amazing.

He made his ODI debut in 2003 against England. In 2005, he made his Test debut in Napier. He played 184 ODIs and bagged 199 wickets at an economy of 4.90. The pace-spearhead played 58 T20Is and has 66 wickets in his name. Kulasekara was a part of the team that won the T20 World Cup in 2014.

Apart from bowling, he was good with the bat as well in the lower order for Sri Lanka. He scored a breezy 73 against Australia in 2012 during the tri-series final at the Gabba. Although he was not that much successful in the longer format of the game. He had played 21 Tests before calling it quits in 2016.

He was the No. 1 ODI bowlers in the ICC Rankings in 2008, a year after his debut in World Cup. He was a part of the team that played 3 World Cup, including playing in the finals twice for the losing causes in the 2007 and 2011.

He was that bowler who gave away most of the runs in the final of 2011, 64 runs in just 8.2 overs while playing in front of a full packed Wankhede. Even the winning six from former India captain MS Dhoni came off his over that sealed India’s win. The scene any fans can’t ever forget.