Five cricket stats that could surprise you

#2 Sanath Jayasuriya has more ODI wickets than Shane Warne

Sanath Jayasuriya

Sanath Jayasuriya is remembered as an aggressive opening batsman who was a handy fifth bowler with his left-arm spin. But many have forgotten that in his initial years he was seen as a bowler who can bat.

The batting exploits of the southpaw was brutal that people underestimated the bowler in him. With the likes of Muttiah Muralitharan and Chaminda Vaas applying pressure, opponents attacked Jayasuriya to score runs.

Jayasuriya varied the pace and gave no room for the batsmen to free their arms. This helped him to put his name in the wickets column. He has delivered crucial breakthroughs in many matches with the 1996 World Cup semi-final at the top of that pile.

He surreptitiously took his wickets tally to 323 which is 30 more than the great Shane Warne. Warne's ODI career was surrounded by controversies which resulted in him playing fewer matches than he should have played actually. A one-year doping ban during the 2003 World Cup is a notable one.

Although Sanath has played 250 more matches than Warne, it is a surprise to see the leg-spinner lagging behind the Sri Lankan.