Chaminda Vaas is one of the most predominant figures in the history of Sri Lankan cricket. A whole era is marked by Chaminda Vaas and his match-winning bowling performances for Sri Lanka. In this article, we will stroll down memory lane and revisit the top 3 best performances of Chaminda Vaas in ODI cricket.
8/19 vs Zimbabwe, 2001
This is the best bowling performance in Chaminda Vaas’ successful ODI career. He picked up 8 wickets against Zimbabwe in 2001. The fact that this is the best bowling figure in the history of ODI cricket establishes the magnitude of this bowling spell. Courtesy of Vaas’ extraordinary bowling effort Sri Lanka bowled Zimbabwe out for 38 runs which was also the lowest team total in ODI cricket at that time. Sri Lanka won the match in the end and Chaminda Vaas was awarded the Player of the match for his historic bowling performance.
6/25 vs Bangladesh, 2003
A 5-wicket haul holds a special significance for a bowler but this 5-fer has a lot more significance for Chaminda Vaas because he achieved this figure on the World Cup stage. In the initial phase of the 2003 World Cup, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh faced off but Vaas made it a great mismatch with his bowling skills.
Sri Lanka invited Bangladesh to bat first after winning the toss and blew them out of the contest. Vaas picked up 6 wickets playing a crucial role in wrapping up the opposition innings for 124 runs.
5/14 vs India, 2000
Chaminda Vaas registered this 5-wicket haul against India in 2000. In the first innings, Sri Lanka posted 299 runs on the board courtesy of an explosive 189-run knock from Jayasuriya. The target was humongous for India and all the hopes of completing the run chase were shattered by Vaas who did not let the Indian batters settle. His 5-fer helped Sri Lanka bowl India out for 54 runs which gave them a massive victory by 245 runs.