42 Facts About Shashikala Siriwardene

Shashikala Siriwardene is the only woman cricketer to take 100 wickets in WODIs for Sri Lanka, and the only female Sri Lankan to combine this with 1,000+ runs.

Shashikala Siriwardene is the all-time leading wicket taker for Sri Lanka in WT20I with 77 scalps.

Shashikala Siriwardene played for Sri Lanka internationally in a career spanning 17 years, from 2003 to 2020.

Shashikala Siriwardene is the longest serving member of the Sri Lankan women's cricket team and is widely regarded as the mother figure of Sri Lankan women's cricket.

Shashikala Siriwardene has captained Sri Lanka in two Women's Cricket World Cup campaigns, in 2009 and in 2013.

Shashikala Siriwardene is a former student of President's College, Sri Jayawardenapura Kotte.

Shashikala Siriwardene is attached with Sri Lanka Navy since 2011 and represents Sri Lanka Navy in domestic circuit.

Shashikala Siriwardene started playing cricket at the age of nine at her residence in Kotikawatta where she was born and her father provided enormous support and guidance to take up the sport to the highest level.

Shashikala Siriwardene was introduced to Palink Sports Club by her father's personal friend and played for the club until the age of 12.

Shashikala Siriwardene later joined the Slimline Sports Club in 2003.

Shashikala Siriwardene joined the MAS Holdings in 2006 and served in the mercantile sector for two years.

Shashikala Siriwardene regularly featured in MAS Holdings team in annual mercantile cricket tournaments.

Shashikala Siriwardene was graduated from the President's College, Sri Jayawardenapura Kotte where she pursued athletics as there was no women's cricket team attached with the educational institute.

Shashikala Siriwardene married Sri Lankan first-class cricketer Namal Seneviratne in 2013 at the age of 28.

Shashikala Siriwardene indicated that she was thoughtful about retiring from international cricket in 2013 after her marriage but her husband convinced her to continue to play for Sri Lanka.

Shashikala Siriwardene was part of the Sri Lankan side which became runners-up to India in the inaugural edition of the Women's Asia Cup in 2004.

Shashikala Siriwardene made her debut World Cup appearance during the 2005 Women's Cricket World Cup.

Shashikala Siriwardene was first appointed as the captain of the national team in December 2005.

Shashikala Siriwardene went onto captain the national team from 2005 to 2009 and then she pursued her second captaincy stint from 2010 to 2014.

Shashikala Siriwardene captained the side at the 2009 Women's Cricket World Cup where Sri Lanka failed to win a single game and was knocked out of the tournament.

Shashikala Siriwardene was controversially axed from the Sri Lankan side for the 2009 ICC Women's World Twenty20 due to below par performances under her captaincy at the 2009 50 over World Cup.

Shashikala Siriwardene made her WT20I debut against West Indies in Caribbean on 21 April 2010.

Shashikala Siriwardene captained the Sri Lankan side at the 2013 Women's Cricket World Cup which was held in India.

Shashikala Siriwardene was ranked world's top women all-rounder in WT20Is in 2014.

Shashikala Siriwardene was selected to play for first ever Rest of the World XI women's team against the Marylebone Cricket Club women's team in a match which was held at Lord's on 19 May 2014.

Shashikala Siriwardene was part of the Sri Lankan team which secured bronze medal at the 2014 Asian Games after defeating China by 4 wickets in the bronze medal match.

Shashikala Siriwardene has captained Sri Lanka Women in 49 WODI matches with 18 wins, 29 losses and 2 no results, and she is the Sri Lankan women cricketer to have captained internationally for most number of times.

Shashikala Siriwardene is the second highest WODI run scorer for Sri Lanka with 2029 runs in 118 matches.

Shashikala Siriwardene is the highest WODI wicket taker for Sri Lanka as well, with 124 wickets including 6 four-wicket hauls.

In Women T20 Internationals, Shashikala Siriwardene is second only to former captain Chamari Atapattu in most runs for Sri Lanka women.

Shashikala Siriwardene has scored 1097 runs in 81 matches with a highest score of unbeaten 52 runs.

Shashikala Siriwardene has captained T20I side as well with record of 31 matches.

Shashikala Siriwardene faced major injury scare ahead of the 2016 ICC Women's World Twenty20 tournament after sustaining an hamstring injury in a warmup match against India prior to the start of the tournament.

Shashikala Siriwardene was replaced by Chamari Atapattu as the stand-in captain for Sri Lanka in their last group stage match against South Africa which Sri Lanka won by 10 runs.

Shashikala Siriwardene was diagnosed with bacterial infection after tearing her posterior anterior cruciate ligament.

Shashikala Siriwardene underwent surgery in order to reconstruct her ACL and therefore missed out on to play against Australia and New Zealand in home bilateral international series as part of the ICC Women's Championship which began in 2017.

Shashikala Siriwardene was the joint-leading wicket-taker for Sri Lanka in the tournament, with four dismissals in three matches.

Shashikala Siriwardene captained the Sri Lankan team at the 2018 Women's T20 Asia Cup.

Shashikala Siriwardene was named as best bowler and best allrounder in WT20Is at the 2019 Sri Lanka Cricket Annual Awards.

Shashikala Siriwardene was the leading wicket-taker for Sri Lanka in the tournament, with seven dismissals in four matches.

Shashikala Siriwardene became a Level 1 coach with Sri Lanka Cricket after completing the Level 1 coaching program conducted by Sri Lanka Cricket and had a brief stint of three years coaching cricket techniques to young schools girls at the Devi Balika Vidyalaya in Colombo.

In 2011, Shashikala Siriwardene told to BBC that the women cricketers might be recruited by Sri Lankan security forces including herself after Sri Lanka Cricket failed to find and secure sponsors for the women's cricket team.