Jayasuriya - aggressive batsman. (Allsport)
SANATH JAYASURIYA
Born: 30.06.69
One-day internationals: 287
Batting: Left Hand (Avge: 32.13)
Bowling: Left Hand Orthodox (Avge: 35.88)
Catches: 94
Jayasuriya's destructive hitting belies a gentle, quietly-spoken cricketer on whom the mantle of captain has never sat easily.
To be fair to the left-hander, following in the footsteps of Arjuna Ranatunga was always going to be a difficult task - and he deserves a certain amount of credit for staying in the post as long as he has: more than three-and-a-half years by the time the World Cup begins.
For a player whose batting is the epitome of aggression - it was his blistering early-innings assaults in the 1996 tournament which signalled the dawn of the pinch-hitter - Jayasuriya has come under fire for erring on the defensive side in terms of his captaincy.
Considering he has just two players at his disposal who fall into the category 'world class' - Muttiah Muralitharan and Mahela Jayawardene - it is difficult not to sympathise with him, although that will count for little when Sri Lanka
step on the field.
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