Sri Lanka

The minnows of world cricket up until the 90's shocked the world by winning the 96 world cup in the sub-continent and in the process became the first team ever to win the cup in their own country. The country has always produced good and talented players who have performed on the international level, but the team has always had leadership problems and in my opinion that was the root cause of their lacklustre performances in the past.

In the 80's Asoka DeSilva was a recognizable figure in the Sri Lankan cricket. But the captaincy problem plagued the team up until the 1990's, when Ranatunga took over and Sri Lanka managed to beat Zimbabwe and South Africa in the 1992 World Cup. The team really took off at the start of 1995 when they won the Sharjah Cup and ended their campaign by winning the WC in 1996. They were pioneers of the ploy to attack the bowling side in first 15 overs and they did so through Jayasuriya & Kaluwitharana, who were unstoppable at that time and the match huge total, which swung the match in their favour.

Choosing two of the very best from the country wasn't an easy task but after scrutinizing the performances of Muralitharan, Ranatunga, A DeSilva and Jayasuriya I've come to pick DeSilva and Muralitharan as two of the best who have ever represented the country.

As a teenager DeSilva played aggressively but tended to throw away his wicket just as he was beginning to send panic among the opposition. As time went on he matured into a great middle order batsman upon whom the Sri Lankan batting's success depended heavily. He is the highest run-getter from the country and also has the most number of centuries by a Sri Lankan. He has also been the captain of the team but then gave it up to improve his batting and bowling skills. He is a handy bowler who can turn his arm over and also get crucial wickets and can also stem the flow of runs. Players like him can be included into any team in the world and are an asset to the team they represent.

Muralitharan in my opinion is the best spinner in the world currently. He has taken the most number of wickets by an SriLankan, in both one-day and test-matches. Suspicions about his bowling action plagued the early part of his career but after he was cleared by the ICC he came back with a vengeance and bamboozled batmen all over the world with his off-spinners. Now he has also developed wrong'un which tends to leave the batsman instead of spinning in. This has given his bowling a new dimension and made him even more dangerous for batsmen. As a brilliant fielder he has taken many spectacular catches and has also brought about the downfall of many batsmen by running them out.

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