Former Sri Lanka Test cap, Tharanga Paranavitana has decided to announce his retirement from all forms of cricket ending his 20-year-long First-Class career.
The current Tamil Union skipper will hang up his boots after the ongoing Plate Championship match between Tamil Union and Negombo CC.
The 38-year-old veteran batsman Paranavitana averaged 32.58 in Test cricket representing Sri Lanka in 32 matches. In his first-class career, he has managed to score close to 15000 runs with 40 centuries at 46.02.
Paranavithana didn’t have a dream start in Test cricket as he was dismissed for a golden duck in the first innings of his debut in Pakistan in 2009. In his very next Test, the Sri Lanka team was attacked by terrorists in Lahore and the opening batsman was among those injured.
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Paranavitana’s first century came in a special Test match where Muttiah Muralitharan reached his 800th Test wicket and Sri Lanka beat India in 2010 at the Galle International Stadium.
Paranavithana represented SSC earlier on in his career but towards the tail end shifted to Tamil Union. In an exclusive interview with ThePapare.com, Paranavitana revealed that one of his dreams was to end his first-class career at 15000 First-Class runs like the Sri Lanka legend Aravinda de Silva. To fulfill that he has to score 90-odd runs in his last first-class match vs Negombo CC.
After his retirement, Paranavitana will move onto become an umpire as he has already been accredited to Level 4 in the panel of umpires by Sri Lanka Cricket.
