Yea sure it's not like Aravinda was the reason I started watching the game in the first place. I've seen both enough times - I'm just unlikely to be affected that much by nostalgia.
It's not nostalgia for me. It is partly his odi knock and partly that the runs he scored were harder because his team wasn't as good and the pressure was greater on him. Also he carved out a path for Mahela to follow. The fact he established sl as a respected opponent took courage and incredible self belief. I don't care what the stats say.
Well you have no disagreement if we're talking about ODIs.. Mahela is not even in the top 5 of SL in ODIs for me.
Top 3 in ODIs (Jayasuriya, Aravinda, Sanga), probably top 5 in Tests (Sanga, Mahela, Aravinda, Thilan, Angelo).
Dilshan deserves to be there with Aravinda for the 3rd place in tests.
My top 5 (combining Tests and ODIs) for SL are:
Really only had 4 or 5 prolific years out of a 14 year career which probably works against him if you're going to rate him among the top 3 or even top 5
267 vs New Zealand in Wellingon, 167 vs Autralia in Brisbane, and that whirlwinf century against Wasim and Waqar when they were boomeranging it in Colombo.
Second best ODI batsman behind Aravinda in ODIs. In Tests in top 10. First 5 would be Sanga, Aravinda, Mahela, Thilan and Dilly. Expect Mathews to knock the door on Aravinda on ODIs. Angelo may become the besy ODI player from Sri Lanka surpassing Jaya if he continues in current form.Aravinda for me. I remember those days when he and Jayasuriya used to massacre Indian bowlers.. There was a widespread rumour in India at that time in my childhood that Jayasuriya had some sort of steel inside his bat which helped him hit those massive sixes.
Just curious, where does Jayasuriya rank among Srilankan batsmen?
This + Hobart 89, 1991 in NZ, couple of great knocks vs Imran, Wasim and Waqar in Pakistan. Also remember him and Ranatunga saving a test in West Indies on a difficult pitch
