Marvan Atapattu

A masterful stroke maker, Marvan Atapattu is a former Sri Lankan cricketer who fought his way through an extended lean patch early on in his career to later go on to lead Sri Lanka in Tests and ODIs. 

Well known for his amazing cover-drive, Atapattu made his debut against Indian in November 1990 and his career got to the worse possible start when he registered five ducks in six innings. Atapattu made his first-ever century in Tests, almost seven years after his debut, against the Indians in November of 1997.

Since his first Test century against India, Atapattu became one of the most consistent batsmen produced by Sri Lanka. In 2003, he was named as the skipper of Sri Lanka in all formats taking over the reins from Sanath Jayasuriya. His career highlight was the century against England at Lords in 2002. He scored 185 against a top-notch bowling attack featuring Dominic Cork, Andrew Caddick, Matthew Hoggard and Andrew Flintoff. Although the match ended in a draw, it was evident that he would be a worthy successor to the former skipper Sanath Jayasuriya.  

A brilliant leader, Atapattu was first led down by the selectors as Harshan Tilakaratne was selected as the skipper of Sri Lankan replacing Jayasuriya but after a horrendous start winning just one match in the first ten, he was replaced by Atapattu. He not only revived the Sri Lankan team from a downfall but also won the 2004 Asia Cup and a series whitewash over South Africa. After becoming the skipper, his own batting form improved devastatingly as he amassed 1250 runs in 18 Test matches as the skipper. 

Atapattu had a tiff with the selectors after he was left out of the 2007 World Cup squad. His comeback came later in the Test series against Australia in November 2007 which turned out to be the last Test match of his career. Atapattu scored 80 in the second innings of the Hobart Test in which Sri Lanka lost by 96 runs and immediately retired after the series.

Post-retirement, Atapattu took up the job of coach and was widely sought after for his knowledge about batting. He coached Singapore and Canada and was later appointed as the batting coach of the Sri Lankan national team in 2011. In 2014, he was appointed as the head coach of the Sri Lankan cricket team and called it a day as the head coach of Sri Lanka in September 2015 following a defeat in the Test series against India at home.

(As of April 2021)