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Upul Tharanga

Upul Tharanga
උපුල් තරංග
Personal information
Full name Warushavithana Upul Tharanga
Born (1985-02-02) 2 February 1985 (age 31)
Balapitiya, Sri Lanka
Nickname Upula
Height 5 ft 11 in (1.80 m)
Batting style Left-handed
Role Opening batsman
International information
National side
Test debut (cap 103) 18 December 2005 v India
Last Test 6–10 November 2016 v Zimbabwe
ODI debut (cap 125) 2 August 2005 v West Indies
Last ODI 4 September 2016 v Australia
T20I debut (cap 11) 15 June 2006 v England
Last T20I 7 August 2012 v India
Domestic team information
Years Team
2000–01 Singha Sports Club
2003–present Nondescripts Cricket Club
2007–present Ruhuna
2014 Kandurata Maroons
Career statistics
Competition Tests ODIs T20I LA
Matches 22 188 10 311
Runs scored 1,228 5,526 131 9,562
Batting average 32.31 32.89 13.10 34.03
100s/50s 2/5 13/29 -/- 20/56
Top score 165 174* 37 174*
Balls bowled -
Wickets 0
Bowling average
5 wickets in innings 0
10 wickets in match 0
Best bowling -
Catches/stumpings 17/– 33/– 1/- 84/2
Source: Cricinfo, 2 November 2016
Upul Tharanga
Medal record
Men's Cricket
Representing  Sri Lanka
Asian Games
Gold medal – first place 2014 Incheon Team

Warushavithana Upul Tharanga (born 2 February 1985), commonly known as Upul Tharanga (Sinhalese: උපුල් තරංග), is a professional Sri Lankan cricketer, plays for all formats of the game. He is a left-handed opening batsman and occasional wicket-keeper.

Upul Tharanga had his education at Dharmasoka College, Ambalangoda. He started his cricket career as a teenager at his school. Having played for Nondescripts since the age of 15, he played for Sri Lanka's under-15, under-17 and under-19 squads. He had a successful under-19 World Cup in 2004 with successful innings of 117 and 61 in successive games. He was sent by the Sri Lankan cricketing board to play league cricket for Loughton Cricket Club in Essex.

Tharanga's Sri Lankan call-up in July 2005 made for a mixed 2005, after his family home was washed away by the Asian tsunami. His equipment, which was also washed away, was replaced by Kumar Sangakkara. Tharanga graduated to the "A" team and in July he was selected for the full squad.

On the 2006 tour of England he really began to develop, particularly in the one-day game, scoring over 300 runs in Sri Lanka's 5–0 whitewash of the hosts. In addition, Tharanga is also well known for taking part in a record-breaking first wicket partnership with Sanath Jayasuriya in the final match of this series. He finished off with 109 off 102 balls, and played a pivotal role in completing the whitewash against England.

Tharanga lost his form in the 2007 World Cup scoring only one half century (against New Zealand) he then continued his poor run of form in the home series against England in 2007 where he failed to contribute and often fell before the 10th over often resulting in a middle-order collapse. Subsequently he lost his ODI place to Malinda Warnapura and his test place to Michael Vandort but he remains within the squad.

However, in the 2011 World Cup, he is back to performing remarkably. In the quarter-final game against England, his partnership with Tillakaratne Dilshan, wrapped up the game, each acquiring centuries. His strong form has returned him to the opening position in the strong Sri-Lankan batting line up.


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Wikipedia

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