ASANKA GURUSINHA   

Asanka Pradeep Gurusinha (born 16 September 1966 in Colombo) is a former Sri Lankan cricketer who enjoyed an 11-year international career, playing 41 Tests and 147 One Day Internationals for Sri Lanka. He was a specialist batsman who helped win the 1996 World Cup final with 65 in a partnership of 125 with the final's Man of the Match, Aravinda de Silva. He studied at Nalanda College Colombo. He now lives in Melbourne, Australia.

Gurusinha was called up at 19 as a wicket-keeper, a role he took in a further two ODIs and one Test. He gradually established himself as a No. 3 batsman, playing 33 Tests and 109 ODIs in that position, and was described by Simon Wilde of Cricinfo as "the rock on which Sri Lankan batting was founded". He was also known for his big stature and wide stance when batting. When he retired in 1996, only Sri Lanka's captain Aravinda de Silva had made more Test hundreds, with eight compared to Gurusinha's seven.

Asanka is the 32nd Sri Lanka Test Cap, making his debut against Pakistan in Karachi in 1985/86. He was also a useful part-time bowler, with Michael Atherton, Sunil Gavaskar, Dean Jones, Steve Waugh and Inzamam-ul-Haq among his 20 Test wickets.

Asanka Gurusinha

 Sri Lanka

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Full name: Asanka Pradeep Gurusinha

Born: September 16, 1966, Colombo

Current age: 46 years 202 days

Major teams: Sri Lanka, Nondescripts Cricket Club, Sinhalese Sports Club

Batting style: Left-hand bat

Bowling style: Right-arm medium

Fielding position: Wicketkeeper

 

Batting and fielding averages
 

	Mat	Inns	NO	Runs	HS	Ave	BF	SR	100	50	6s	Ct	St
Tests	41	70	7	2452	143	38.92			7	8	11	33	0
ODIs	147	143	5	3902	117*	28.27	6409	60.88	2	22		49	0
First-class	124	183	19	7169	162	43.71			20	32		89	0
List A	173	169	6	4365	117*	26.77			2	23		56	0

 
Bowling averages
 

	Mat	Inns	Balls	Runs	Wkts	BBI	BBM	Ave	Econ	SR	4w	5w	10
Tests	41	39	1408	681	20	2/7	4/68	34.05	2.90	70.4	0	0	0
ODIs	147	55	1585	1354	26	2/25	2/25	52.07	5.12	60.9	0	0	0
First-class	124		5142	2298	107	5/54		21.47	2.68	48.0		1	0
List A	173		2035	1676	39	3/36	3/36	42.97	4.94	52.1	0	0	0

 
Career statistics
 

Test debut	Pakistan v Sri Lanka at Karachi, Nov 7-11, 1985
Last Test	Sri Lanka v Zimbabwe at Colombo (SSC), Sep 18-21, 1996
ODI debut	Pakistan v Sri Lanka at Hyderabad (Sind), Nov 3, 1985
Last ODI	Pakistan v Sri Lanka at Sharjah, Nov 8, 1996
First-class span	1984-1997
List A span	1984-1997