Deshabandu Umagiliya Durage Upul Chandana (born 7 May 1972), popularly known as Upul Chandana, is a former Sri Lankan

cricket Cricket is a Bat-and-ball games, bat-and-ball game played between two Sports team, teams of eleven players on a cricket field, field, at the centre of which is a cricket pitch, pitch with a wicket at each end, each comprising two Bail (cr ...

er who played both Tests and ODIs. He was more specifically a

leg spin Leg spin is a type of spin bowling in cricket. A bowler who uses this technique is called a leg spinner. Leg spinners bowl with their right-arm and a wrist spin action. The leg spinner's normal delivery is called a leg break, which spins fr ...

bowler and was also an outstanding fielder. He was a part of the Sri Lankan squad which won the

1996 Cricket World Cup The 1996 Cricket World Cup, also called the Wills World Cup 1996 for sponsorship reasons, was the sixth Cricket World Cup organised by the International Cricket Council (ICC). It was co-hosted by India, Pakistan and Sri Lanka. The tournament wa ...

, however he did not play any matches during the tournament. Chandana is considered to be one of the best leg spinners who ever played for Sri Lanka. He was also a competent lower-order batsman, having scored a total of seven half-centuries at international level.

School times

Upul Chandana started his cricketing career as a teenager at

Mahinda College Mahinda College is a Buddhist boys' school in Galle, Sri Lanka. The school was established on 1 March 1892 by the Buddhist Theosophical Society led by Colonel Henry Steel Olcott. As of today it is a National school (Sri Lanka), national school whi ...

Galle Galle (, ; , ) (formerly ) is a major city on the southwestern tip of Sri Lanka, south of Colombo. Galle is the provincial capital and largest city of Southern Province, Sri Lanka and is the capital of Galle District. Galle was known as ''Gi ...

Domestic career

Chandana has played county cricket in England for

Gloucestershire County Cricket Club Gloucestershire County Cricket Club, founded in 1870, is one of 18 first-class cricket, first-class county cricket, county clubs within the domestic cricket structure of England and Wales. It represents the Historic counties of England, hist ...

and represented Nondescripts in Sri Lankan. He made his

Twenty20 Twenty20 (abbreviated T20) is a shortened format of cricket. At the professional level, it was introduced by the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) in 2003 for the county cricket, inter-county competition. In a Twenty20 game, the two t ...

debut on 17 August 2004, for

Nondescripts Cricket Club Nondescripts Cricket Club (also known by its initials NCC) is a first-class cricket team based in Colombo, Sri Lanka. The team plays at the Nondescripts Cricket Club Ground. History The club was founded in 1888. The name "Nondescripts" is derived ...

in the

2004 SLC Twenty20 Tournament The 2004 SLC Twenty20 Tournament is the 1st season of the official Twenty20 domestic cricket competition in Sri Lanka. 15 teams in total, five representing four provinces of Sri Lanka Provinces (; ) are the first level administrative divis ...

. Chandana joined the

Indian Cricket League The Indian Cricket League (ICL) was a short-lived cricket league that ran from 2007 to 2009. It was sponsored by Zee Entertainment Enterprises, a media company. The ICL had two seasons, featuring four international teams and nine domestic teams ...

, playing for the Kolkata Tigers and ICL World XI, and with four other Sri Lankan cricketers was banned, but the decision was lifted on 2009.

International career

Despite making his ODI debut in 1994 aged 21, Chandana had to wait for five years to be included in the Test team. It came in the Asian Test Championship Final in March 1999 against Pakistan. Chandana bowled 47.5 overs in the first innings and finished with 6 for 179. Over the next few years he made sporadic appearances for Sri Lanka and in 2002 he was named as captain of Sri Lanka A, when they played an unofficial Test series against

Kenya Kenya, officially the Republic of Kenya, is a country located in East Africa. With an estimated population of more than 52.4 million as of mid-2024, Kenya is the 27th-most-populous country in the world and the 7th most populous in Africa. ...

and Chandana topped both the batting and bowling averages. This helped him work his way back into the side in 2003 and after a match-winning innings against

West Indies The West Indies is an island subregion of the Americas, surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic Ocean and the Caribbean Sea, which comprises 13 independent island country, island countries and 19 dependent territory, dependencies in thr ...

Bridgetown Bridgetown (UN/LOCODE: BB BGI) is the Capital city, capital and largest city of Barbados. Formerly The Town of Saint Michael, the Greater Bridgetown area is located within the Parishes of Barbados, parish of Saint Michael, Barbados, Saint Mic ...

, Chasing 313 for victory, he was promoted up the order to 5 and smashed 89 off just 71 deliveries with 6 sixes. Since then he was a regular player in the one day team for the next few years. When

Muttiah Muralitharan Deshabandu Muttiah Muralitharan (born 1972) is a Sri Lankan cricket coach, businessman and former professional cricketer. Averaging over six wickets per Test match, he is widely regarded as one of the greatest players in the history of the ...

withdrew from the 2004 tour to Australia, Chandana came into the Test side as the main spin bowler. Despite being expensive, he took a ten wicket haul in the 2nd Test at Cazalys Stadium in

Cairns Cairns (; ) is a city in the Cairns Region, Queensland, Australia, on the tropical north east coast of Far North Queensland. In the , Cairns had a population of 153,181 people. The city was founded in 1876 and named after William Cairns, Sir W ...

and is the only Sri Lankan bowler to take ten wickets in a test match in

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country comprising mainland Australia, the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania and list of islands of Australia, numerous smaller isl ...

. Upul Chandana has the record for the highest test score when batting at number 9 for Sri Lanka(92). Chandana retired from international cricket on 15 October 2007 after Bangladesh tour. In an emotional press conference, he said that he was forced to take the retirement decision because of the politics that existed in the team selections.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Chandana, Upul 1972 births Living people Sri Lanka One Day International cricketers Sri Lanka Test cricketers Gloucestershire cricketers Sri Lankan expatriate cricketers in England Tamil Union Cricket and Athletic Club cricketers Nondescripts Cricket Club cricketers Cricketers at the 1998 Commonwealth Games Cricketers at the 1999 Cricket World Cup ICL World XI cricketers Royal Bengal Tigers cricketers Alumni of Mahinda College Cricketers who have taken five wickets on Test debut Uva cricketers Ruhuna cricketers North Central Province cricketers Cricketers from Galle Cricketers at the 1996 Cricket World Cup Sri Lankan cricket coaches Deshabandu Commonwealth Games competitors for Sri Lanka