Suranga Lakmal

Ranasinghe Arachchige Suranga Lakmal (Sinhala: රණසිංහ ආරච්චිගේ සුරංග ලක්මාල්; born 10 March 1987) is a former professional Sri Lankan cricketer, who played in all formats of the game and is a former Test cricket captain. He is a right-arm fast bowler and right-handed batsman. He started his cricket life in Debarawewa National School, Tissamaharama. He was first included in the national squad for the tour of Pakistan in 2008-2009 and was reported to have been injured in the attack on the Sri Lankan team by terrorists.

He had to carry the so-called 'foreign objects' in his body during his playing career with the recommendation of the doctors in order to continue his cricketing career aftermath the 2009 Lahore attacks where he was severely injured. Doctors advised Lakmal to take a break from cricket for at least two years in order to remove the splinters on his right arm and leg and he also underwent complicated surgery to remove the splinters. He also had to deal with the circumstances of not being allowed to go pass the metal detectors during his overseas trips with the national side mainly due to the presence of the foreign objects in his body. Moreover, he also had to explain to security personnel on why he is carrying a piece of metal particle embedded in his left thigh whenever he passes through a security metal detector at international airports.

He was a regular feature in the test team and made sporadic appearances in limited overs cricket. He is only behind Chaminda Vaas for having taken the most wickets for Sri Lanka in test cricket with 168 and he is also the current fourth leading wicket taker for Sri Lanka in tests. He was also a useful bat often chipping with useful contributions batting down the low order. He insisted that his aim is to finish his career with 200 or 250 test wickets.

He largely played holding role in white ball limited overs matches although he had his moments leading the pace attack in crunch situations. He was relatively popular among the teammates in the national side and was highly heralded as a team man. He is known for his quick and accurate bowling action especially with the knack of generating big swing and lateral seam movement. He has taken five wicket hauls in three of four SENA nations including Australia, South Africa and New Zealand.

Due to spin favoring Sri Lankan conditions, he was often pushed him into the sidelines. He mostly played the holding role and bowled relatively lesser number of overs due to his inability to take wickets in spin friendly Sri Lankan pitches. However, he ended up taking 130 of is 168 career test wickets in away conditions and was often rewarded for his ability to hold a line and length over long periods of time in overseas conditions.

He also felt the heat at times being under scrutiny for being an injury prone and due to his fitness issues.

He currently plays for the Tamil Union Cricket and Athletic Club. On 2 February 2022, Lakmal announced that he would retire from all forms of international cricket following Sri Lanka's tour of India.