Chaminda Vaas

Warnakulasuriya Patabendige Ushantha Joseph Chaminda Vaas is a Sri Lankan cricketer who is considered as the best fast bowler the country has produced. Vaas is known particularly for his indipper and off cutter. Over the years, his pace has decreased, but he has a good control of the line and length.

Vaas made his debut for Sri Lanka in 1994. In his first year of international cricket, he helped Sri Lanka to win their first test match win away from home, in which he had figures of 5 for 47 and 5 for 43. In 2001-02, Vaas took 26 wickets against the West Indies in a series which Sri Lanka won. In won of the matches, he took 14 wickets. This feat is accomplished only by Imran Khan in the subcontinent.

Vaas has taken more than 300 test wickets and the only Sri Lankan to achieve this feat is Muttiah Muralitharan. Vaas has also taken more than 350 one day international wickets and he is one of the two Sri Lankans to achieve this feat. Vaas also holds the best bowling figures in ODIs which is 8 for 19. He could manage to take a hat-trick twice, once against Zimbabwe and the other against Bangladesh.

Vaas is also a useful batsman and has scored 2500 runs in Test cricket, which includes one century and 12 half-centuries. His fielding is equally brilliant and he is noted for a strong arm.

In the Indian Premier League, he plays for Deccan Chargers.

Major individual achievements

The hat-trick of Vaas against Bangladesh was in the first three balls of the match, a feat that cricket has never seen.

In 2004, he was selected for the World XI at the inaugural ICC awards.