3 reasons why Sanath Jayasuriya was a one-of-a-kind ODI cricketer

Sri Lankan cricketing legend Sanath Jayasuriya is celebrating his 53rd birthday today (June 30). One of the greatest cricketers, not just from Sri Lanka, but across the world, Jayasuriya was an integral part of the Sri Lankan side that won the 1996 Cricket World Cup, emerging as the Player of the Tournament for his heroics with the bat and the ball.

An integral part of the golden generation of Sri Lankan cricket, he helped his side reach the pinnacle of their success, as they won the 1996 World Cup. Serving as captain from 1999 to 2003, he was also part of the team that reached the finals of 2002 Champions Trophy, 2007 World Cup and 2009 World T20.

One of the most entertaining and aggressive batters in world cricket at the time, Jayasuriya was named in Wisden Cricketers' Almanack's list of top five cricketers of the year in 1997. Even after retiring from the game in 2011, he continued to serve Sri Lankan cricket as he became the chairman of the country's selection committee. Under his tenure as chief selector, Sri Lanka won the T20 World Cup in 2014.

On that note, let us take a look at three reasons why Sanath Jayasuriya was a one-of-a-kind ODI cricketer.

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#1. Sensational all-round abilities

Sanath Jayasuriya is the only player in the history of ODI cricket to pick up 300 wickets and score more than 10,000 runs. An explosive batter, Jayasuriya formed a formidable partnership at the top of the order with his partner Romesh Kaluwitharana that served Sri Lankan cricket well for several years.

Jayasuriya has the fifth highest number of centuries in the history of ODI cricket, with 28 tons to his name. Additionally, in spite of being a world-class opening batter, he is the 11th highest wicket-taker in the format with 323 scalps.

He etched his name in Sri Lankan cricketing folklore with his performances at the 1996 World Cup. In just six matches that he played in the tourament, he smashed 221 runs at an average of 36.83. He further picked up seven wickets in the tournament, including a match-winning spell in the semi-final against India, where he gave away just 12 runs in seven overs and picked up the three wickets, including that of an in-form Sachin Tendulkar.

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#2. Swashbuckling batting

Much before the likes of Virender Sehwag, Adam Gilchrist, Herschelle Gibbs and others came into the fold, Sanath Jayasuriya reimagined the way in which ODI cricket was played. Under coach Dav Whatmore in the 1996 World Cup, both Kaluwitharana and Jayasuriya decided to take the attack to the opposition from the word go.

In days when 50-60 runs was considered a decent result in the first 15 overs, the Sri Lankan duo regularly started posting scores of more than 100 runs in this phase.

The best example of this playing style was displayed during the 1996 World Cup. Along with Kaluwitharana, he posted scores of 117, 123 and 121 against India, Kenya and England in the first 15 overs, respectively.

His scores against these teams were 79 runs off 76 balls, 44 runs off 27 balls and 82 runs off 44 balls, meant that the opposition was on the backfoot from the word go. While batting aggressively in the Powerplay is a norm today, this trend was started in the mid-1990s by him.

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#3. Sanath Jayasuriya's wicket-to-wicket accurate spin bowling

In an era where spin bowlers used to rely on flight and spin to dismiss batters, Sanath Jayasuriya used to bowl faster deliveries and yorkers to much success. Initially picked on the back of his strong bowling performances, Jayasuriya ended his ODI career with 323 wickets, including four 5-fers at an economy rate of just 4.78.

His bowling can be compared to the likes of Ravindra Jadeja and Axar Patel in modern times, who rely on pinpoint accuracy in line and length, variation in pace and ability to bowl yorkers in the death overs even as spinners. He used to get through his overs exceptionally quickly, giving away nothing to the batters which slowly has become a template for most finger spinners to bowl defensive lines in white-ball cricket these days.

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With that, we complete our piece on three reasons why Sanath Jayasuriya was a one-of-a-kind ODI cricketer. Can you think of any other such reasons? Let us know in the comments section below.