Full Name

Herath Mudiyanselage Rangana Keerthi Bandara Herath

Born

March 19, 1978, Kurunegala

Age

46y

Batting Style

Left hand Bat

Bowling Style

Slow Left arm Orthodox

Playing Role

Bowler

Rangana Herath is an orthodox left-arm spinner who has taken over from Muttiah Muralitharan as Sri Lanka's main wicket-taking bowler in Tests. As a left-arm spinner, his strengths are his accuracy and his ability to bowl long spells, but to that he has added a 'mystery' ball, a delivery that is quicker and darts back into the right-hander.

In his early years, he was seen as a support act to Muralitharan, though he had his moments to savour: against Pakistan in 2009, his 4 for 15 got Sri Lanka an improbable win, as Pakistan were bundled out for 117 chasing 168. Most of the time during that period, though, his role was to bowl long spells block the runs and build pressure on the batsmen, allowing Murali to work his magic from the other end.

Since Murali's retirement, Herath has been Sri Lanka's go-to bowler. His unrelenting accuracy, and his ability to subtly vary his pace and flight have made him a potent force even overseas, where conditions don't always favour spin bowling. On Sri Lanka's tour to South Africa in 2011-12, Herath's match haul of 9 for 128 helped the team to their first Test win in South Africa. Next season he also had an impressive tour of Australia, bowling long spells, taking wickets and keeping the runs in check when the fast bowlers struggled to exercise any sort of control. He was the leading wicket-taker in Tests in 2012, with 60 at an average of 23.61, thus proving conclusively that he had broken out of Murali's shadow, and was among the best left-arm spinners going around.
ESPNcricinfo staff

Rangana Herath Career Stats

Bowling

FormatMatInnsBallsRunsWktsBBIBBMAveEconSR4w5w10w
Tests9317025993121574339/12714/18428.072.8060.020349
ODIs716732422362744/204/2031.914.3743.8100
T20Is1717365373185/35/320.726.1320.2010
FC270-596202716010809/127-25.142.7355.2-7014
List A190-825657322264/194/1925.364.1636.5500
T20s535111101129575/35/319.806.1019.4010

Batting & Fielding

FormatMatInnsNORunsHSAveBFSR100s50s4s6sCtSt
Tests9314428169980*14.64340549.89032016240
ODIs71301514017*9.3321764.5100102140
T20Is1763832.661266.66000000
FC27039689502180*16.35--015--1090
List A19011148104388*16.55--01--440
T20s532677794.05--00--80
Herath Mudiyanselage Rangana Keerthi Bandara Herath

Explore Statsguru Analysis

Test
ODI
T20I

Videos of Rangana Herath

Photos of Rangana Herath

Mushfiqur Rahim, Nic Pothas, Rangana Herath, Chandika Hathurusinghe look on during training
Bangladesh spin-bowling coach Rangana Herath speaks to the media
Rangana Herath presents Mehidy Hasan Miraz the ICC ODI team of the year cap
Rangana Herath was chaired around the outfield
Rangana Herath was run out in his final Test innings
School children show their appreciation for Rangana Herath