Sri-Lanka’s Lahiru Thirimanne announces retirement after a 13-year International career
Left-handed Sri-Lankan batter Lahiru Thirimanne has announced his retirment from International cricket, bidding goodbye to a 13-year-old career which started in 2010. He broke into the scene as a talented Batter who was among the elite Sri-Lankans who graced the game with their presence.
Thirimanne took to his official Facebook page to announce his retirement with a picture of him celebrating a Test knock and also added an emotional caption.
“As a player I have given my best, I have tried my best, I have respected the game and I have done my duty honestly and ethically to my motherland. It was a difficult decision to make, but I cannot mention here the many unexpected reasons that influenced me to take this decision willingly or unwillingly. I take this opportunity to thank the SLC members, my coaches, teammates, physios, trainers and analysts for their support and encouragement.”
Thirimanne somewhat had a career marred with some unwanted records but also had his fair share of Golden memories. The 33-year-old has a terrible Batting average in Test cricket. In fact, for Batters to play 50 Tests in Top 6, Lahiru Thirimanne had an average of 22.06.
Lahiru Thirimanne in numbers
Moreover, Thirimanne’s first Test Ton came in 2013, 2 years since his debut. It took him another 8 years to score a Test century as he scored 111 runs in January 2021. His 3rd and final Test century came 2 months later with his last red-ball cricket appearance coming in March 2022.
In 2014, Thirimanne tasted success in the ICC T20 World Cup 2014 with Sri-Lanka and was named the Man of the tournament in the same year’s Asia Cup. Though he started off mainly as an Opening batsman, the 33-year-old gradually transitioned into a Middle-order batter where he actually flourished at the International stage.
His overall Test average after playing 44 Tests for Sri-Lanka was just 26.43 with his last Test appearance coming in March 2022 against India. Lahiru Thirimanne made his senior debut for Sri-Lanka in 2010 against India at Mirpur. He went on to feature in more 126 ODIs, scoring 3194 runs, averaging 34.71 with 4 Full centuries and 21 Half-centuries.
He did not have a very good T20 career, as he appeared just 26 times and scored 291 runs without any 50s or 100s. In 85 Tests innings, he scored 2088 runs with 3 Hundreds and 10 Fifties.
