Many batsmen in international cricket go through bad patches in their careers and even the greats of the game were no exception to this rule. Even a consistent player like Rahul Dravid had a miserable tour of Australia in 1999 when we could not aggregate even 100 runs in the  6 innings he played on that tour in Test Matches.  However Sri Lankans Attapattu had a very  forgettable start to his Test Match career.  While Marvan Atapattu would like to forgot the start he had to his career and would not like to relive that horror, he would not even wish his worst enemies the type of start he had to his career.

Marvan Attapatu made his debut for Sri Lanka in Test Matches on 23rd November 1990 against India at Chandigarh.  His was dismissed for 5 ducks in his first 6 Test innings. In fact it took 1 year and 268 days for Marvan Attapattu to get his first ever Test Run.  It took Attapatu 6 years and 106 days to get his 2nd Test Run in Test Matches.  Marvan Atapattus highest score after his first 17 Test Innings was 29 runs. Attapattus sequence of 5 ducks in 6 innings is given below:-

0 and 0 in First Test against India on 23rd November 1990 at Chandigarh

0 and 1 in Second Test against Australia on 17th August 1992 at Colombo

0 and 0 in Third Test against India on 8th February 1994 at Ahmedabad.

In a land of stroke players Atapattu was rated very highly in Sri Lanka for having a good technique.  Apart from a forgettable start to his Test Career, Atapattu surprisingly was given a extended run by the Sri Lankan board as he enjoyed the faith of selectors and his captain went on to play 90 Test for Sri Linka scoring 5502 runs in a career which lasted 17 years.  Inspite of being known for his technique and having a extended career Atapattu finished his career with a modest average 39.02.  Sri Lankan stroke players who were rated less than him and got fewer opportunities finished their career with far better career records.

While many international cricketers all over the world never got a opportunity to represent their countries or never got a chance to come back after being dropped Atapattu must consider himself to be the most fortunate cricketer.

Regards

Satish