Jeevantha Kulatunga
Hettiarachchi Gamage Jeevantha Mahesh Kulatunga (born 2 November 1973), or Jeevantha Kulatunga is a former Sri Lankan T20I cricketer. An aggressive right-handed middle order batsman, Kulatunga has been captain of Colts Cricket Club since 2003–2004, though he failed to make an impact in international level.
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| Full name | Hettiarachchi Gamage Jeevantha Mahesh Kulatunga | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Born | 2 November 1973 Kurunegala, Sri Lanka | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Height | 5 ft 11 in (1.80 m) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Batting | Right-handed | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Bowling | Right arm medium | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Role | Batsman | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| National side |
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| T20I debut (cap 21) | 10 October 2008 v Zimbabwe | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Last T20I | 12 October 2008 v Canada | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Domestic team information | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Years | Team | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 1993– | Colts Cricket Club | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 1990–95 | North Western Province | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 2007– | Wayamba | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 2011 | Drumpellier Cricket Club (Overseas Professional) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Career statistics | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Source: Cricinfo, 15 September 2016 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
He is a past student of Maliyadeva College, Kurunegala. He is also a member of 2007 Hong Kong Cricket Sixes winning Sri Lanka team.
Domestic career
Born in Kurunegala, Kulatunga was just 17 when he made his first class debut in 1990, playing for Kurunegala Youth Cricket Club. In 2001 he was selected to represent the Sri Lanka Board President's XI in a game against England at Matara, scoring a half century. He has also played for Sri Lanka A, in games against Pakistan A and India.
He has been a prolific scorer in domestic cricket and in May steered his club Wayamba to a 31-run victory in the inaugural Inter-Provincial Twenty20 final against Ruhuna, earning an opportunity to make his international debut. He has also played for Barisal Blazers in Bangladesh's NCL T20 Bangladesh.
International career
In October 2008, Kulatunga was selected in the Sri Lanka side for an International Twenty20 tournament in Toronto. He made his debut on 20 October against Zimbabwe, scoring eight runs and taking a catch in a five-wicket victory,[1] also playing against Canada.
Fixing allegations
Jeevantha Kulatunga was suspected by Al Jazeera along with Dilhara Lokuhettige for being involved in a match fixing in a fake T20 series in the United Arab Emirates.[2] However in a latest release on 28 May 2018, Jeevantha Kulatunga has declined the allegations made by Al Jazeera, stating that this is a planned action against him inorder to damage his reputation.[3]
The Al Jazeera's Investigation Unit also revealed that former Pakistani cricketer Hasan Raza, Jeevantha Kulatunga and Dilhara Lokuhettige were preparing to make money by organising and arranging a fake tournament in the UAE solely to make huge collection of money to fix matches in the future.[4]
Career Best Performances
as of 15 September 2010
| Batting | Bowling | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Score | Fixture | Venue | Season | Score | Fixture | Venue | Season | |
| T20I | 11 | Sri Lanka v Canada | Ontario | 2008 | n/a | |||
| FC | 234 | Colts v Ragama | Colombo (MSC) | 2009 | 5–67 | Colts v Sri Lanka Air Force | Colombo (Colts) | 2004 |
| LA | 132 | Wayamba v Sri Lanka Cricket Combined XI | Colombo (Colts) | 2010 | 5–21 | Colts v Badureliya | Colombo (Colts) | 2006 |
| T20 | 104* | Wayamba v Kandurata | Galle | 2010 | 4–28 | Colts v Kurunegala YCC | Colombo (Nondescripts) | 2005 |
References
- "Canada v Sri Lanka in 2008–2009". CricketArchive. Retrieved 25 October 2008.
- "Cricket world shocked once again by match-fixing allegations". Sri Lanka News. 27 May 2018. Retrieved 28 May 2018.
- "Jeewantha Kulatunga rejects match-fixing allegations". Hiru News. Retrieved 28 May 2018.
- "Exclusive: Al Jazeera exposes players cashing in on match-fixing". www.aljazeera.com. Retrieved 28 May 2018.