Pulasthi Waruna Gunaratne

Profile:

Pulasthi Gunaratne is a late developer. He made his first-class debut in 1994 as a 20-year-old but was forced to wait another eight years before playing international cricket. During those years there had been suspicions cast upon his action and in the 1999/2000 season he was called for throwing by Sri Lanka umpire D.N. Pathirana. Afterwards, however, modifications were made to his action to the satisfaction of the cricket authorities. He represented the Sri Lanka A side before making his Sri Lanka debut against Bangladesh in August 2002, immediately impressing the management by extracting surprising life from a typical dead Premadasa pitch and maintaining a tight line and length. But the strength of Gunaratne lies not in his pace but in the manner in which he has responded to pressure situations. On two occasions during the Morocco Cup, against Pakistan and then South Africa, he was brought on to bowl in the death overs. Despite the tenseness of the situation he used his variations effectively and generally kept his cool, ensuring Sri Lankan victories. That coolness leaves him as the preferred third seamer in one-day squad.