Aravinda de Silva
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| Full name | Pinnaduwage Aravinda de Silva | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Born |
17 October 1965 Colombo, Sri Lanka |
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| Nickname | Mad Max | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Height | 5.3 in | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Batting style | Right-handed | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Bowling style | Right-arm off break | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Role | Batsman | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| National side | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Test debut (cap 27) | 23 August 1984 v England | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Last Test | 23 July 2002 v Bangladesh | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| ODI debut (cap 37) | 31 April 1984 v New Zealand | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Last ODI | 18 March 2003 v Australia | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Domestic team information | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Years | Team | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 1989–2002 | Nondescripts Cricket Club | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 1995 | Kent | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 1996/1997 | Auckland | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Career statistics | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Source: Cricinfo, 25 August 2007 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Deshabandu Pinnaduwage Aravinda de Silva (Sinhalese: පින්නදුවගේ අරවින්ද ද සිල්වා; born 17 October 1965) is a former Sri Lankan cricketer, who is widely considered as the finest batsmen produced by the country in his era. He is also regarded as one of the most elegant batsman of his generation, who helped to win the 1996 Cricket World Cup and brought Sri Lanka from underdog status to present day form. To date, Aravinda is the only player to make a hundred and take 3 or more wickets in a World cup final.
He was the head of the national selection committee briefly before stepping down after the ICC Cricket World Cup 2011. de Silva was again appointed as the head of the national selection committee on 7 March 2016, by Sports minister Dayasiri Jayasekara, prior to 2016 ICC World Twenty20 tournament.
De Silva had his initial education at Isipathana College, Colombo before attending D. S. Senanayake College, Colombo. He made his Test match debut in 1984 at Lord's against England. During the early part of his career he was known as a dashing but inconsistent batsman – he was given the nickname "Mad Max" for his tendency to get out to rash shots. He later commented on his aggressive batting style: "That's my natural game – I don't want to change because I feel confident playing that way. If someone is capable of dominating the bowling, they should do it. It's the way I've been playing since I was a youngster." But a successful season playing first-class cricket for the English county Kent in 1995 marked a turning point in his career. De Silva was instrumental in Sri Lanka's triumph in the 1996 Cricket World Cup where his unbeaten century and three wickets earned him the Man of the Match award in the final against Australia. His other notable achievements include scoring a century in each innings of a Test match on two separate occasions (only bettered by India's Sunil Gavaskar, Australia's Ricky Ponting and David Warner, who each performed this feat three times). One of these doubles was 138 and 105, both unbeaten, against Pakistan at Colombo's Sinhalese Sports Club in April 1997. This made him the first, and so far only, player to score two not out centuries in the same Test match. As he had scored 168 in the second innings of the previous Test, he posted three hundreds in eight days. He finished the year with 1,220 runs at 76.25.
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