Sri Lanka and Pakistan will play for pride in the final Asia Cup regular game. (Source: AP)
Sri Lankan seamer Nuwan Kulasekara announced retirement from international cricket with immediate effect on Wednesday.
The 37-year-old will leave the game as Sri Lanka’s third-highest ODI wicket-taker (with 199 scalps in 184 matches) among seamers, only behind Chaminda Vaas and Lasith Malinga.
For Indian fans, their biggest connect with Kulasekara would be Mahendra Singh Dhoni hitting him for the Wold Cup-winning six at the Wankhede Stadium in 2011.
The right-arm seamer also picked up 66 wickets in 58 T20 matches in a career which spanned more than 15 years. He also played 21 Tests for the island nation taking 48 wickets.
Kulasekara last appearance for Sri Lanka in ODI cricket was in July 2017 against Zimbabwe in Hambantota./
Kulasekara was one of Sri Lanka’s heroes during their victorious 2014 World T20 campaign in which he took eight wickets in six matches at an economy rate of 6.42.
In the final against India in Dhaka, Kulasekara had figures of 1/29 with Yuvraj Singh failing to go big against him.
He was the no.1 bowler in March 2009 ICC rankings and his career-best ODI figures of 5/22 came in 2013 against Australia in Brisbane.
(With PTI inputs)
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