Chamara Kapugedera

Chamara Kantha Kapugedera (Sinhalese: චාමර කාන්ත කපුගෙදර; or commonly Chamara Kapugedera, born 24 February 1987 in Kandy) is a professional Sri Lankan cricketer plays for ODIs and T20Is. He was a permanent member in the national team from the debut match to until 2010, and finally poor performances dropped him from the squad.

He is also a member of the first Twenty20 International match for Sri Lanka, and capped no. 6. Kapugedara re entered national side in mid-2015 and currently play the role of a middle order batsmen.

International career

Kapugedera made his first-class debut in a match for Sri Lanka A and in domestic cricket, he plays for Colombo Cricket Club.

An aggressive right-handed batsman, Kapugedera got his first taste of international cricket when he made his One Day International debut against Australia in Perth in 2006.He was the first Sri Lankan national ODI cricketer to emerge from his school Dharmaraja College in Kandy, which is one of the leading schools in the island. He made his Test cricket debut in the first Test against England at Lord's Cricket Ground in London, in May 2006, in which he made a first ball duck in the first innings. A stylish and classical player, he is also known for his big hitting against Brett Lee and his innings of 38 runs from 21 balls, inclusive of 2 fours and 3 sixes, in the first final of the VB Series held in 2006. This innings bolstered Sri Lanka's total and ensured that Australia lost their first home final in 9 years.

Although Kapugedera showed huge potential in both one day and Test cricket, with some mature innings, his overall inconsistency lead to him being dropped from both teams. However, after the 2007 Cricket World Cup he began to stabilise his position in the one day team, and in 2008 some good performances cemented his position in the number 4 position. This included a 95 against West Indies when Sri Lanka were in trouble, and in the 2008 Asia Cup.

His inconsistency during 2009 has proved costly, with more young players coming through to challenge for his place in the team. Chennai Super Kings put him on sale for the 2009 Indian Premier League, but no team came forward to bid for him despite the very low starting price.

However, the doors were opened him for the 2010 ICC World Twenty20 in West Indies, where his talents emerged again. The most notable knock was came during the match with India on 11 May 2010, where Kapugedera sent India home with a last ball winning six on Ashish Nehra bowling. Sri Lanka needed three runs off the last ball, Kapugedera smashed a mighty shot over cover for six allowing the team for the victory. He scored unbeaten 37 runs in the match.^[1]

Comeback

Many critics argued that, he probably the best option for the place of legendary Mahela Jayawardena in ODI team, but due to many talented young cricketers, he was unable to enter to the squad, only named to the 15-named squad in Pakistan series 2015. However, after about 3 years of scarcity in international cricket, Kapugedera was called up for the T20I series against Pakistan in July 2015. He made his comeback with a strong note by scoring unbeaten 31 runs in the first match, eventually Sri Lanka lost the match. He scored his highest T20I score of 48* in the second match in this series. The innings was impressed by the commentators, but finally Sri Lanka lost the match and also the series.^[2]

After 3 years of ODI rest, Kapugedera was included to the ODI squad for New Zealand in 2015-16 season as a middle order batsman. He was only able to score 8 runs in the first ODI where Sri Lanka were all out for 188 runs and lost the match by 7 wickets.

Personal life

Kapugedera is married to his longtime partner, Tamara Derek on 16th December 2010 where the wedding ceremony was taken place at Waters Edge Hotel, Battaramulla.^[3][4] They have three children, all of which are boys.^[5]

References

External links

• Player profile: Chamara Kapugedera from ESPNcricinfo
• Player profile: Chamara Kapugedera from CricketArchive

Sri Lanka Squads
Sri Lanka squad – 2008 Asia Cup (4th title) 1 Jayawardene (c) 2 Fernando 3 Jayasuriya 4 Sangakkara(wk) 5 Kapugedera 6 Dilshan 7 Kulasekara 8 Muralitharan (wk) 9 Vaas 10 Thushara 11 Udawatte 12 Weeraratne 13 Mendis 14 Maharoof 15 Silva 16 Mubarak Sri Lanka squad – 2010 ICC World Twenty20 Semi-Finalists 1 Thisara 2 Chandimal 3 Dilshan 4 Jayasinghe 5 Jayasuriya 6 Jayawardene 7 Kapugedera 8 Kulasekara 9 Malinga 10 Mathews 11 Mendis 12 Muralitharan 13 Sangakkara (c) 14 Randiv 15 Welegedara Coach: Bayliss Sri Lanka squad – 2011 Cricket World Cup Runners-Up 1 Sangakkara (c & wk) 2 Jayawardene 3 Dilshan 4 Tharanga 5 Samaraweera 6 Silva 7 Kapugedera 8 Randiv 9 Perera 10 Kulasekara 11 Fernando 12 Malinga 13 Mendis 14 Muralitharan 15 Herath Coach: Bayliss Suraj Randiv replaced Angelo Mathews due to injury Sri Lanka squad – 2016 ICC World Twenty20 69 Mathews (c) Chameera 17 Chandimal (vc) (wk) 23 Dilshan 14 Herath Jayasuriya Kapugedera 92 Kulasekara 82 Lakmal 99 Malinga 1 Perera 18 Senanayake Shanaka Siriwardana 66 Thirimanne Coach: Graham Ford Suranga Lakmal and Lahiru Thirimanne was not initially in the squad, but was named as replacement for Jeffrey Vandersay and Niroshan Dickwella.