Interesting Facts for Marvan Atapattu: Sri Lankan cricket has produced many great players of the game. Muttiah Muralitharan, Kumar Sangakkara, Mahela Jayawardene, Sanath Jayasuriya and Arjun Ranatunga. These players surprised world cricket with their performance. These Sri Lankan cricketers are counted in the category of greatest of all time. But apart from all this, there is also a player who has done something amazing for Sri Lankan cricket which you will be surprised to know. One such player was Marvan Atapattu, who was the former captain of Sri Lanka, who played an important role in winning the Asia Cup title for the Sri Lankan team in 2004 under his captaincy. (Marvan Atapattu)
Photo Credit: icc
Marwan Atapatu had scored only 1 run for the first 6 years of his career.
Former Sri Lankan captain Marvan Atapattu made his international debut in 1990 by playing a Test against India. In his very first Test match, Atapatu’s luck betrayed him and he was out without scoring any runs in both the innings. Atapattu had to be dropped from the team after flopping in the first test match. Marvan Atapattu got a chance to play the second test match in his career after 2 years. During the first 17 innings of his Test career, Atapattu was out for zero in 6 innings.
Marvan Atapattu remained a flop even after 2 years
After two years, Atapattu finally got a chance in the Colombo Test against Australia in 1992, but here too the luck of this Sri Lankan player did not favor him. In the second Test of his career, Atapattu scored zero in the first innings and could score only 1 run in the second innings. From here it seemed that Atapattu’s career would end. But Marvan Atapattu did not lose courage. After this, Atapattu’s career took off in the year 1996. Atapattu jumped at the opportunity he got in 1996 and never looked back.
Scored the first century in the 18th test
Marvan Atapattu was successful in scoring the first century of his Test career in the 18th Test. Atapattu did the feat of scoring his first century in the Mohali Test match in 1997. After scoring his first Test century, this Sri Lankan batsman became a continuous member of the Sri Lankan team. In the 1997-98 season, Atapattu scored 695 runs in Tests, during which he became the second highest run-scorer for Sri Lanka in Tests.
Scored 6 double centuries in his career
Many years after his retirement from international cricket, Atapattu, while talking about his double centuries, described himself as a greedy batsman. In his interview with Cricket Monthly, Atapattu said, “When I look back at how I scored double centuries, it happened for a few reasons. One is the enjoyment of batting, how much time you want to spend on the field… and The second thing is greed. In my case, all the zeros I made in the beginning of my career, I thought that if I get a start, I should take full advantage of it, and play big innings.”
Also remained in controversy, had told the selectors that he was a puppet under the leadership of Joker.
He also faced controversies in Sri Lankan cricket, having fought several times with the selectors during his career. In the final stages of his career, he described the selectors during Sri Lanka’s 2007–08 tour of Australia as “puppets led by a clown”. “Told till now. He had announced his retirement from international cricket on the last day of the Hobart Test on that tour.
Scored more than 14000 runs in international cricket
In Tests, Atapattu played 90 matches and scored 5502 runs, which included 16 centuries and 17 half-centuries. His average in the test was 37.52. This batsman did the wonders of scoring double centuries 6 times in Tests. After this, Atapattu remained the edge of Sri Lanka’s batting in ODIs also. Playing 268 matches in ODI, this Sri Lankan batsman scored 8529 runs which included 11 centuries and 59 half-centuries.
Marvan Atapattu also played 2 T-20 International matches in his career and scored 5 runs. Atapattu played his last Test match in 2007 against Australia in Hobart, while his last ODI match was against India in 2007.
