Sri Lankan opener Marvan Atapattu’s career in numbers

Former Sri Lankan captain Marvan Atapattu was well known for his great record at top of the order in Tests and ODIs but the way he started his career remains one of greatest triumphs. In the first seven years of his Test career, Atapattu got to play three games in which he bagged five ducks and scored a sole run and single-digit scores in ODI format while batting lower in the order got him out of the team.

However, regular opportunities from 1997 after consistent performances in domestic circuit helped him cement his place and eventually script a memorable career.

On the occasion of Marvan Atapattu’s 47th birthday, we look at the numbers he garnered in his career:

1 – Runs he scored in his first three Test matches across six innings played in 1990, 1992 and 1994 respectively. He bagged a pair on his debut and made his first run in his 4th innings after another duck in his 2nd Test match. He bagged a pair once again in his 3rd Test match.

4 – Number of pairs for Atapattu in Test cricket. These are the joint 2nd most for any player after Chris Martin’s seven pairs. Courtney Walsh, B Chandrasekhar, Mervyn Dillon and Muttiah Muralitharan have four pairs each in this format.

6 – Atapattu’s six double centuries in Test cricket are the joint most by any player while opening. He and Virender Sehwag have six double hundreds in this format while opening.

16 – His 16 ducks in Tests while opening are the 2nd most for an opener. Michael Atherton bagged 17 ducks as an opener in this format.

22 – Atapattu’s 22 ducks are the joint most for any player in Test cricket with over 5000 runs. Steve Waugh, who has 10927 runs, also bagged 22 ducks in Tests.

41 – Number of times Atapattu was run out in ODI cricket. These are the most times any player got run out in this format. In International cricket, the Sri Lankan got run out on 48 occasions which is 3rd most after Rahul Dravid (53) and Mahela Jayawardene (51).

73.25 – Atapattu’s average in Sri Lankan club championship games. He scored 4688 runs 80 innings with 18 centuries and 15 fifties.

335 – His 335-run partnership stand with Sanath Jayasuriya against Pakistan in 2000 at Kandy is the biggest opening stand in Test cricket for Sri Lanka. His 226-run stand with Mahela Jayawardene in the same year against India at Sharjah is Lanka’s highest 3rd wicket partnership in ODI format.

5502 – His Test aggregate of 5502 is the 2nd highest for any player who started his Test career with a duck. Graham Gooch made 8900 after a pair on Test debut. Atapattu’s 16 tons are also the most after Gooch’s 20 tons among the players with a pair on debut.

7851 – Atapattu’s partnership runs with Jayasuriya while opening the batting are the 2nd most by any pair in International cricket for the opening wicket. West Indian pair Gordon Greenidge and Desmond Haynes leads the list with 11632 runs.