Isuru Udana

Who is Isuru Udana?

Isuru Udana Tillakaratna is a Sri Lankan cricketer. He plays domestic cricket for Tamil Union and Wayamba. On 22 September 2010 while playing for Wayamba in the Champions League T20, Udana completed a rare feat by taking a hat-trick of two deliveries. Mathew Sinclair, the second wicket of the hat-trick was out stumped off a wide-ball.

Udana made his first-class and List A whilst playing for the Sri Lanka A team during their tour to South Africa in August and September 2008. He subsequently went on to play for Tamil Union in both forms during the 2008–09 season. He was then selected by Wayamba to play in both the first-class and Twenty20 portions of the Sri Lankan Inter-Provincial Cricket Tournament. In the Twenty20 final against Basnahira South he was named Man of the Match after taking 4–31, including 4 of the top 5 batsman. He was also named player of the tournament.

Udana was selected in the Sri Lanka squad for the 2009 ICC World Twenty20. He made his Twenty20 international debut on 8 June 2009 against Australia. He played in 5 of Sri Lanka's 7 games in the tournament, including their loss in the final to Pakistan.

Udana failed to continue his domestic success at the international level, and subsequently was dropped from the side after the home series against Pakistan in 2009. He made a comeback into the Sri Lankan squad in 2012 when the selection panel headed by Ashantha de Mel named him for the T20s against Pakistan at home. He was then selected for the ODIs against India which followed the Pakistan series, but again failed to deliver. His only significant contribution in that series was a direct hit to run out Gautam Gambhir at a key moment in one of the games.