5 Sri Lankans who had forgettable debuts but went on to have remarkable Test careers

#3 Hashan Tillakaratne

Tillakaratne made his debut against Australia in 1989

Performance on debut: 0 and 6 against Australia, 1989

One of the finest Sri Lankan Test batsmen, Tillakaratne, possessed tremendous patience and an excellent temperament. But the start he had in international cricket wasn’t a memorable one. Making his debut against Australia in Hobart, he scored 0 and 6 in the first and second innings, respectively.

The left-hander got a duck in the third outing, but a gritty 55 against a quality Indian attack in the same match gave him the impetus to push on and forge a remarkable career.

Test career stats

MAT	RUNS	AVG	100
83	4545	42.88	11

Batting at No. 5 or No. 6 for the most part of his career, the left-hander from Colombo provided stability to the batting line-up with his consistent performances. He scored his first hundred in his 30th match and went on to add 10 more to the tally over the years.

After featuring in 83 matches, he aggregated 4545 runs at an impressive average of 42.87. Any batsman who played in an era where the cricketing world saw quite a few legendary Test bowlers, would be proud of those numbers.