Chaminda Vaas

You would rarely associate the word all time great for a seam bowler, more of a medium pacer, coming from Sri Lanka and playing a majority of his cricket on the slow, low tracks at home, custom made to satisfy the hunger of the giant, Muttiah Muralitharan. Chaminda Vaas, earns that rare great distinction. Playing in an era that saw some of the services of Ambrose, Walsh, McGrath, Wasim, Waqar, Lee, to name a few, this left-handed genius has carved out a niche for himself that places him right up there with the best.

Not the tallest, not the most astutely built and certainly not the most fearsome with his pace, Vaas over the several years of spearheading the Lankan bowling attack had developed all sorts of variations. He became synonymous with the  in-dipper to a right-hander, a delivery that swung in ever so late to fox the batsman after luring him into believing that it would harmlessly go through. Add to that his conventional swing and ability to seam the ball around even on the flattest of tracks in the world. With the advent of T20s and batsmen getting innovative, he developed the off-cutter and mastered the art of getting the old ball to reverse.