‘All good things must come to an end’
What Warusavithana Upul Tharanga, who turned 36 on February 2, had is an all-inclusive package for an international cricketer, or rather, was. Exactly 21 days after his birthday Tharanga, fondly called as ‘Upula’ by his fellow cricketers, threw in the towel on his 15-year long international career, probably a timely decision with the present circumstances Sri Lanka cricket is going through.
It may very well look as a well-thought decision by the southpaw, who has played 292 internationals across all three formats, accumulating a combined 9,112 runs with 18 centuries to his credit. But his decision is something that many in the cricket circle find it hard to digest.
From the point of breaking into the Sri Lanka side in August 2005 in a One-Day International (ODI) against the West Indies at Dambulla to playing his last ODI against South Africa in March 2019, Tharanga has experienced unforeseen challenges an international cricketer could ever come across.
A versatile opener, who could also keep wickets, Tharanga may have failed to ideally cement his Test career, where he averaged 31.89 after 31 matches with a tally of 1,754 runs and a best knock of 165 against Bangladesh. That match in 2006, played from March 8 to 12, at Bogra earned Tharanga his first man-of-the-match award in Tests following his unbeaten knock of 71 in the second innings, which paved the way for a remarkable 10-wicket win for Sri Lanka.
Though he had the composition to become one of Sri Lanka’s stylish openers, Tharanga was probably undervalued in Tests. His real breakthrough came in as an ODI player, where Tharanga scored 6,951 runs in 235 matches at an average of 33.74. With 17 centuries under his belt, Tharanga ends his career as Sri Lanka’s fifth-highest centurion in ODI history, behind Sanath Jayasuriya, Kumar Sangakkara, T.M. Dilshan and Mahela Jayawardene.
His Twenty20 career may have looked mediocre, with a tally of 407 runs in 26 games, but was Tharanga’s potential properly utilised by the hierarchy, is a question that many pundits still continue to ponder.
The reason for that is simple and straightforward.
Tharanga is known to be a quiet character, as a cricketer, as well as an individual. He was never an explosive batsman, but Tharanga was highly reliable as an opener. Of the 50 listed best ODI partnerships of above 150 runs, Tharanga’s name appears many times. Seven of them are over 200 runs for the first wicket — thrice with Mahela Jayawardene and twice each with Sanath Jayasuriya and T.M. Dilshan. This is a feat second only to Australia’s Ricky Ponting.
Sri Lanka’s best partnership of 286 runs for the opening wicket is shared by Tharanga and Jayasuriya against England at Leeds in 2006, followed by the one with Dilshan of 282 against Zimbabwe at Pallekele in 2011. Tharanga and Dilshan share the fifth best partnership as openers, an unbroken stand of 231 against England at the R. Premadasa in 2011. All four of Tharanga’s best partnerships are with explosive partners, whereas the calm southpaw used the blade, timing and technique to score centuries in all four of them.
The remaining three in the top 10 are with Jayawardene, when both made a solid opening pair for Sri Lanka — a 215 against Bangladesh at Dhaka, 213 against India at Kingston and 202 against Pakistan at Dambulla. The other three in the list are — 188 with Dilshan against India at Rajkot, 165 with Sangakkara for the third wicket against Zimbabwe at Ahmedabad and 160 with Dilshan against Zimbabwe at Harare.
This record speaks volume of what Tharanga is capable of contributing as an opener and as a top order batsman. And above all it depicts what an in-form Tharanga could become. Being the fastest Sri Lankan to reach 4,000 ODI runs in 119 innings, shows his consistency.
Unfortunately, like any other cricketer, Tharanga too had bad patches. Sometimes those periods are beyond imagination. Worse and more devastating than the Tsumani of 2004 which left teenager Tharanga, his parents, brother and sister nothing but the mere foundation of his family home in Ambalangoda.
He has lost his permanent place in the Test and ODI teams more than once or twice and each time he fell, Tharanga has bounced back strongly. In 2013 in the Caribbean, he struck an unbeaten 174 against India in Kingston during a triangular series. That would be the last time he would score more than 50 in 18 innings during three years he had to spend most times outside the team.
But after 2016, Tharanga was found to be good enough to captain Sri Lanka in ODIs and T20s, a prediction once given by the legendary Jayasuriya with whom he had two fruitful 200-plus opening partnerships. By mid-2017 he was permanently appointed as captain, after which Tharanga totally gave up hopes of making a comeback to the Test side. Eventually after 14 matches and five wins and three series whitewashes against South Africa, India and Pakistan, Tharanga would lose his captaincy by the end of that year.
Still being treated as a passenger, Tharanga made his last ODI appearance in March 2019 while still securing a central contract with Sri Lanka Cricket. As skipper he had been penalised twice with two match bans each for maintaining slow over rates, but his darkest era was the three months Tharanga had to totally forget even the word ‘cricket’ after receiving a ban for breaching the ICC Anti-Doping Code during mid 2011. The ban was for a medication he took with no intention of enhancing sporting performance but only for failing to uphold responsibility as an international cricketer.
Yet, Tharanga has risen from the ashes each time as a phoenix. But even the phoenix has its limitations, and so does Tharanga, who eventually used a Twitter message to convey the message of his retirement, which read — “All good things must come to an end”.