Rangana Herath

Despite colliding most of his international career with Muttiah Muralitharan, Rangana Herath retired as a Sri Lankan great with 433 Test match wickets under his name. Herath is a former cricketer who was a master of slow left-arm orthodox bowling. The southpaw looked way identical to Murali but was on the aggressive side. 

The left-arm spinner debuted in 1999 and was seen as the second fiddle to the offspinner in southpaw's early years. Herath had a successful stint during the 2004-05 season but the Murali factor was too big. However, when the offie got injured in 2009, the southpaw was called to have a fantastic Test series against Pakistan. 

Herath truly flourished since Murali’s retirement, especially in the Durban Test of 2011 when the spinner took nine wickets in the match and helped Sri Lanka win their maiden Test on South African soil. He also enjoyed the series against England as well and scalped 20 wickets at 13.90 in the UK. 

The following years turned out to be dreamy for the left-arm, he was the highest wicket-taker in Test in 2012 and played a vital part against Australia and Bangladesh to earn the Cricketer of the year honour in SLC awards 2013. Herath was also part of Sri Lanka’s title-winning team during the 2014 World T20, memorably known for his 5-for-3 against New Zealand.

Herath played the following T20 World Cup, held in India, and post the event the southpaw retired for the limited-overs formats to concentrate on the longest format. Later that year, the Sri Lankan surpassed Daniel Vettori's record of 362 wickets to become the most successful left-arm spinner in Test cricket history. 

Like every other good thing, Herath’s career also had to come to an end. Before the England series of 2018, he hinted at his international career and retired after the Colombo Test. Injuries and age-body were prime reasons for Herath’s final goodbye.

(As of April 2021)