It's hard to imagine that for the first half-decade of his career, Sanath Jayasuriya was considered a bowler who could bat a bit. Think of him now and you think of forearms straight out of a smithy, shots hammered through point and cover and scythes over the leg side. You recall a man who could score equally briskly in every form of the game, who slashed and burned his way through bowling attacks. As with anyone who relied so much on extraordinary hand-eye coordination, there were troughs and lean times, but just as the obit writers got busy, he would produce another innings of supreme power. The bowling, always canny and relying more on variations in pace than sharp turn, became the supporting act, though 420 international wickets should tell you that he was pretty adept at what he did.

Following Mark Greatbatch's success at the 1992 World Cup, most teams were rethinking the way they approached the one-day game and Jayasuriya, who had trawled the lower reaches of the middle order till then, had his first stint as opener during the Hero Cup in India in 1993. It was only during a home series against Pakistan the following year that he established himself in the role and by the time the World Cup rolled around 18 months later, he had already chalked up his first century in whites, a frenetic stroke-filled effort in Adelaide.

The years that followed were both prolific and successful. People remember Aravinda de Silva's magical innings from the semi-final and final of the 1996 World Cup but it was Jayasuriya's withering assaults that deflated India in Delhi and England in the last eight. Soon after, he began to exact as heavy a toll on Test attacks, scoring at such a pace that Muttiah Muralitharan and friends had ample time to work their way through opposition batsmen.

After Arjuna Ranatunga's ouster, there was a four-year stint as captain that ended with a semi-final appearance at the 2003 World Cup, and just as the whispers grew about diminishing returns with the bat, he had one of his most successful years in 2004. There was a retirement announcement in 2006, but he was back within weeks, and the walk off the Test stage came only 18 months later, after a typically cavalier innings in Kandy.

The one-day flame continued to burn bright, and took Sri Lanka to another World Cup final in 2007, and he was instrumental in the Asia Cup win of 2008, a couple of months after it had seemed that the selectors' axe had fallen for the final time. The Indian Premier League gave him a new platform to showcase his big-hitting talent, but failure to replicate the success of the first season in subsequent campaigns was the surest sign that time had finally caught up with a man who was still pounding out one-day hundreds at the age of 39.

His election as a Member of Parliament in April 2010 and his subsequent failure at the World Twenty20 suggested that his international career may be at an end, but he made the longlist for the 30-man squad for the 2011 World Cup, before being recalled to the one-day side for the series in England two weeks shy of his 42nd birthday.

Dileep Premachandran

• February 17-19, 1989
  Hundred on debut
  • Makes his first-class debut, playing Sri Lanka B against Karachi, in Karachi. Scores an 89-ball 102 in the second innings, but Sri Lanka B don't have enough time to chase down the 218-run target. The match is called off with their score at 145 for 3 in 26.4 overs. More such innings would be seen in Test cricket in the next two decades.
    
• December 26, 1989
  Ordinary international debut
  • On ODI debut, in Melbourne against Australia, scores 3 from No. 5 in a 30-run loss. Doesn't bowl.
    
• February 22, 1991
  Inconspicuous Test debut
  • Makes his Test debut in the second Test against New Zealand in Hamilton. Required to bat only once, scores 35 at the No. 6 position.
    
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• March 20, 1993
  Before batsman, appears the bowler
  • Wins his first Man-of-the-Match award, not for his batting but his figures of 9.5-0-29-6 against England in Moratuwa.
    
• October-November, 1993
  Are we onto something?
  • Promoted to No. 3, scores quick fifties against Pakistan in back-to-back innings in Sharjah. These are his first and second half-centuries in 41 ODIs. Later in the month, he is promoted to open the batting against Zimbabwe in Patna.
    
• December 8, 1994
  Did you hear that explosion?
  • Smashes 140 off 143 balls against New Zealand in Bloemfontein. Has scored 140 out of the 235 by the time he gets out.
    
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• January 25-29, 1996
  What thou do in ODIs, thou shall do in Tests
  • In his second Test as an opener, and 17th overall, scores his maiden Test century, against Australia in Adelaide. His 112 in the second innings follows a 48 in the first but, Australia still win by 148 runs.
    
• March 1996
  His finest hour
  • The 1996 Wolrd Cup. Sri Lanka win. Jayasuriya changes the face of ODI cricket by consistently giving Sri Lanka explosive starts. With 221 runs at a strike-rate of 131.54, and seven wickets at an economy-rate of 4.52, is named the Man of the Tournament.
    
• April 1996
  Fastest century and fifty
  • Singapore is the scene as he breaks the records for the fastest ODI century and fifty within six days. First smashes a hundred off 48 balls, and then a fifty off 17. The second effort, though, is followed by a collapse and a loss to Pakistan in the final.
    
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• August 2-6, 1997
  Punishing favourite opposition, part I
  • Plunders 340 in the first Test against India in Colombo, the highest individual score by a Sri Lankan. His 576-run second-wicket partnership with Roshan Mahanama is the first 500-plus partnership in Test cricket.
    
• August 9-13, 1997
  Punishing favourite opposition, part II
  • Follows up the triple-century with a 199 off only 226 balls in the second Test in Colombo.
    
• 1997
  Best in the world
  • Is named one of Wisden's cricketers of 1997.
    
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• August 27-31, 1998
  Setting up first win In England
  • Scores 213 off 278 balls in the first innings against England at The Oval to complement Muttiah Muralitharan's 16-for and set up Sri Lanka's first Test win in England.
    
• July 1999
  At the helm
  • Is named the captain of Sri Lanka after Arjuna Ranatunga is sacked following a poor showing in the 1999 World Cup.
    
• July 20-23, 1999
  Almost a century in a session
  • In Galle, scores 96 in the first session of the series against South Africa. The visitors never recovers from a 156-ball 148 and lose by an innings and 15 runs.
    
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• October 29, 2000
  Misses the individual peak
  • A breathtaking innings of 189 against India in a Sharjah final falls 11 short of what would have been the only double-century in ODIs, and five short of the highest ODI score ever.
    
• April 10, 2001
  Most runs in an over
  • Hits Chris Harris for 6, 6, 6, 6, 4, and 2 in one over in Sharjah to break his own previous record of having taken 29 off an Aamer Sohail over in Singapore in 1995-96.
    
• August 2001-March 2002
  Could nine
  • Starting with the Colombo win against India, leads Sri Lanka to a record nine consecutive Test victories.
    
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• March 22, 2003
  Resigns as captain, citing the need to groom a new leader for the 2007 World Cup.
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• June 20-24, 2003
  J5K
  • Scores his 5000th Test run in his 79th Test against West Indies, in St Lucia.
    
• October 20-24, 2004
  Second dig, double hundred
  • Hits 253 in the second innings of the first Test against Pakistan in Faisalabad and sets up a 201-run win.
    
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• August 29, 2005
  J10K
  • During his 77-ball 67 to set Sri Lanka's tri-series win in the final against India, becomes only the fourth batsmen, and the first Sri Lankan, to cross 10,000 ODI runs.
    
• September 20, 2005
  The big hundred
  • Becomes the first Sri Lankan to play 100 Tests when Sri Lanka take on Bangladesh in Colombo.
    
• November 11, 2005
  First drop
  • After a string of poor performances, is dropped from the Sri Lankan Test squad for the first time since 1995.
    
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• December 22, 2005
  Back after the break
  • Barely six weeks later, a series of protests and criticism, including involvement from the Sri Lankan president, sees him back in the Test squad.
    
• January 22, 2006
  Back, and better than ever
  • Having injured his shoulder in a water polo accident, misses the first half of Australia tour, and scores a century in his first match back.
    
• April 3, 2006
  Is this the end?
  • Announces he will retire from all forms of cricket after the 2007 World Cup.
    
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• April 4, 2006
  The farewell hurts
  • Having announced his retirement from Test cricket, faces a painful exit as he injures his right hand in his last Test at that time.
    
• June 1, 2006
  The U-turn
  • Asantha de Mel, the new chairman of selectors, forces Jayasuriya to reconsider his retirement and the batsman returns to the team against England in Nottingham.
    
• July 1 and 4, 2006
  That's how you chase
  • Shows he is relevant in modern cricket, blasting 152 off 99 balls as Sri Lanka chase 322 with ridiculous ease in 37.3 overs at Headingley. Three days later, scored 157 off 104 balls against Netherlands as Sri Lanka post the highest-ever total in ODI history, 443.
    
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• July 23, 2007
  Take a bow-l
  • During an ODI against Bangladesh, becomes only the ninth bowler in ODI history to have crossed 300 wickets. Add to it more than 12,000 runs, and you are staring at uniqueness.
    
• September 14, 2007
  Now for T20s
  • In the inaugural World Twenty20, Sri Lanka post 260 against Kenya, thus registering highest-ever scores in all three formats of the game. Jayasuriya has not only played all those games, but top-scored in them.
    
• October 1, 2007
  Latest bandwagon
  • Signs on for the IPL, along with seven other Sri Lankan cricketers.
    
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• October 4, 2007
  400-barrier no more
  • Becomes the first cricketer to have played 400 ODIs, scoring 10 in a 65-run loss to England in Dambulla.
    
• December 3, 2007
  Way to go
  • At 38, quits Test cricket and scores a rapid 78 - including six fours in one over - in his final innings, against England in Kandy. Ends 27 short of 7000 runs, and three short of 100 wickets.
    
• March 12, 2008
  ODI axe
  • Following a run of 305 runs in 20 innings, is dropped for the tour of West Indies.
    
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• May 16, 2008
  Back again
  • After a successful showing in the inaugural IPL, is brought back into the ODI side for the Asia Cup, on the insistence of Sri Lanka's sports minister.
    
• July 6, 2008
  Where I belong
  • Six days after having hit a century against Bangladesh to celebrate his 39th birthday, proves once again that he belongs at the top level, scoring an imperious 125 after Sri Lanka are 66 for 4 in the final of the Asia Cup. In the process he takes RP Singh for 26 runs in over, and his knock sets up a comfortable victory for India.
    
• January 28, 2009
  Old is gold
  • At 39 years and 112 days, becomes the oldest centurion in ODIs, with 107 against India in Dambulla.
    
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• December 15, 2009
  Back to the old haunt
  • Under pressure again, and past his 40th birthday, is sent down to the middle order, in the first ODI against India in Rajkot. Is dropped for the next two matches, and bats at No. 3 in the fourth.
    
• December 26, 2009
  20 not out
  • Finishes 20 years in international cricket.
    
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