| Personal information | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Full name | Warushavithana Upul Tharanga | |||
| Born | 2 February 1985 Balapitiya, Sri Lanka |
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| Batting style | Left-handed | |||
| International information | ||||
| National side | Sri Lanka | |||
| Test debut | 18 December 2005 v India | |||
| Last Test | 18 December 2007 v England | |||
| ODI debut | 2 August 2005 v West Indies | |||
| Last ODI | 6 February 2011 v West Indies | |||
| Domestic team information | ||||
| Years | Team | |||
| 2000–01 | Singha Sports Club | |||
| 2003–present | Nondescripts Cricket Club | |||
| 2007–present | Ruhuna | |||
| Career statistics | ||||
| Competition | Tests | ODIs | FC | LA |
| Matches | 15 | 126 | 82 | 187 |
| Runs scored | 713 | 4,064 | 4,720 | 5,804 |
| Batting average | 28.52 | 35.64 | 35.48 | 33.54 |
| 100s/50s | 1/3 | 12/19 | 10/19 | 13/31 |
| Top score | 165 | 133 | 265* | 173* |
| Balls bowled | – | – | 18 | – |
| Wickets | – | – | 0 | – |
| Bowling average | – | – | – | – |
| 5 wickets in innings | – | – | 0 | – |
| 10 wickets in match | – | – | 0 | – |
| Best bowling | – | – | 0/4 | – |
| Catches/stumpings | 11/– | 21/– | 61/1 | 47/2 |
| Source: Cricinfo, 7 February 2011 | ||||
Warushavithana Upul Tharanga (born 2 February 1985), commonly known as Upul Tharanga, is a Sri Lankan cricketer. He is a left-handed opening batsman and wicketkeeper.
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Upul Tharanga had his education at Dharmasoka College, Ambalangoda. He started his cricket career as a teenager at his school. Having played for Nondescripts since the age of 15, he played for Sri Lanka's under-15, under-17 and under-19 squads. He had a successful under-19 World Cup in 2004 with successful innings of 117 and 61 in successive games. He was sent by the Sri Lankan cricketing board to play league cricket for Loughton Cricket Club in Essex.
Tharanga's Sri Lankan call-up in July 2005 made for a mixed 2005, after his family home was washed away by the Asian tsunami. His equipment, which was also washed away, was replaced by Kumar Sangakkara. Tharanga graduated to the "A" team and in July he was selected for the full squad.
On the 2006 tour of England he really began to develop, particularly in the one-day game, scoring over 300 runs in Sri Lanka's 5-0 whitewash of the hosts. In addition, Tharanga is also well known for taking part in a record-breaking first wicket partnership with Sanath Jayasuriya in the final match of this series. He finished off with 109 off 102 balls, and played a pivotal role in completing the whitewash against England.
Tharanga lost his form in the 2007 World Cup scoring only one half century (against New Zealand) he then continued his poor run of form in the home series against England in 2007 where he failed to contribute and often fell before the 10th over often resulting in a middle-order collapse. Subsequently he lost his ODI place to Malinda Warnapura and his test place to Michael Vandort but he remains within the squad.
However, in the 2011 World Cup, he is back to performing remarkably. In the semi-final game against England, his partnership with Dilshan could not be pierced. Together they wrapped up the game, each acquiring centuries. His strong form has returned him to the opening position in the strong Sri-Lankan batting line up.
He has also come in for special praise from Jayasuriya, one of the greats of cricket, saying that he could be the next captain of the Sri Lankan cricket team.
A urine sample provided by Tharanga after the world cup semi-final against New Zealand on 29 March 2011 was found to have metabolites of two glucocorticosteroids - prednisone and prednisolone, which are banned by the World Anti-Doping Agency.[1][2] Tharanga initially claimed he had taken some medication for asthma and had no idea it was a banned drug.[3]
An independent anti-doping tribunal was convened at which Tharanga pleaded guilty, claiming he had taken some herbal remedy to ease discomfort caused by a long-standing shoulder injury.[1] The tribunal accepted that Tharanga "had no intention to enhance his sporting performance or to mask the use of another performance enhancing substance, but that he had failed to satisfy the high levels of personal responsibility implicit upon him as an international cricketer subject to anti-doping rules".[1] The tribunal found Tharanga guilty of breaching the ICC Anti-Doping Code and banned him from all cricket and cricket-related activities for a three month period (9 May 2011 to 8 August 2011).[1][4][5]
The following table illustrates a summary of ODI centuries scored by Upul Tharanga
| One Day International Centuries of Upul Tharanga | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Runs | Match | Against | City/Country | Venue | Year | |
| [1] | 105 | 5 | Bangladesh | Colombo, Sri Lanka | R Premadasa Stadium | 2005 |
| [2] | 103 | 12 | New Zealand | Christchurch, New Zealand | Jade Stadium | 2006 |
| [3] | 120 | 23 | England | London, England | Lord's Cricket Ground | 2006 |
| [4] | 109 | 27 | England | Leeds, England | Headingley | 2006 |
| [5] | 105 | 31 | Bangladesh | Mohali, Chandigarh, India | Punjab Cricket Association Stadium | 2006 |
| [6] | 121 | 32 | Zimbabwe | Motera, Ahmedabad, India | Sardar Patel Stadium | 2006 |
| [7] | 118 | 86 | India | Kolkata, India | Eden Gardens | 2009 |
| [8] | 118* | 90 | Bangladesh | Dhaka, Bangladesh | S.B National Stadium | 2009 |
| [9] | 101* | 111 | West Indies | Colombo, Sri Lanka | Sinhalese Sports Club Ground | 2011 |
| [10] | 133 | 117 | Zimbabwe | Kandy, Sri Lanka | Pallekele International Cricket Stadium | 2011 |
| [11] | 102* | 119 | England | Colombo, Sri Lanka | R Premadasa Stadium | 2011[6] |
| [12] | 111 | 139 | Australia | Hambantota, Sri Lanka | Mahinda Rajapaksa International Stadium | 2011 |
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