Tharanga Paranavitana retires from international cricket

Tharanga Paranavitana, the 38-year old Sri Lanka batsman, has announced his retirement from international cricket. Known as an old-school opener, he played 32 Test matches for his country, scoring 1792 runs including two hundreds and 11 fifties.

Paranavitana's method brought him great success, especially in domestic cricket. With 12,522 runs, he is Sri Lanka's highest ever run-getter in first-class cricket and even added a half-century to his tally since the domestic season re-started after the Covid-19 induced break.

The ability to score big runs put Paranavitana on the senior team's radar in the late 2000s. The left-hander made a career-best 236 for Sinhalese Sports Club in their title winning season in 2007-08 and that booked him a place on the Sri Lanka A team's tour of South Africa. It was after that tour that former coach Chandika Hathurusingha called him a future prospect.

Paranavitana made his Test debut against Pakistan in February 2009. He scored both of his hundreds in back-to-back Tests against India in 2010, and although he managed a string of half-centuries thereafter, the three-figure mark kept eluding him. He played his final game for Sri Lanka in November 2012.