OTD| Sri Lanka’s former captain Dinesh Chandimal was born in 1989

Former Sri Lankan captain Dinesh Chandimal is celebrating his 34th birthday today. He has been a very important part of the Sri Lankan set-up in the past, in all formats. He has been an asset for the Sri Lankan batting order with his skills to bat anywhere in that order which provides a lot of flexibility. 

The Beginning

Dinesh Chandimal made his international debut in the T20 format for Sri Lanka. He was selected for the T20 World Cup squad in 2010 and made his debut in the T20 World Cup against New Zealand in Guyana. 

A couple of months later, he made his debut in ODI cricket on the Zimbabwe tour at Bulawayo. Very soon, he got the opportunity to represent Sri Lanka in test cricket, as he made his debut in 2011 on an away tour to South Africa. 

The Overview

Dinesh Chandimal has a lot of international experience in all formats. He has had a good career, but his test career has been better than his stint in white-ball cricket. The wicketkeeper-batsman has played 76 test matches for Sri Lanka, where he has scored 5295 runs at an average of 43.40. In test cricket, he has 14 centuries to his name along with 25 half-centuries. His best figures of 206* in test cricket came against Australia at the Galle Cricket Stadium.

He has also represented Sri Lanka in 157 one-day internationals, scoring 3854 runs at an average of 31.85. In the shortest format of the game, he has scored 1062 runs in 68 T20 internationals with a strike rate of 103.60. 

The wicketkeeper-batsman has also captained Sri Lanka in different formats at different stages in his career. He is out of favor at the moment but will be raring to make a comeback in the Sri Lankan team, and his experience might come in handy for Sri Lanka in the middle order.