Chaminda Vaas is a Sri Lankan cricketer, who was born on January 27, 1974 in Mattumagala. Nicknamed “Vaasy”, he graduated from the St. Joseph's College, Colombo. Chaminda Vaas is a left-handed fast bowler and a left-handed batsman.
Chaminda Vaas made his Test debut for his national side against Pakistan at Kandy on August 26, 1994. He made an impact in his first year of international cricket by scalping 5 wickets in both the innings of the match against New Zealand at Napier, which helped his side to its maiden overseas Test victory. Following this victory, he has been a regular in the side and spear-heads the Sri Lankan bowling attack. During the 2001-02 season, he had a prolific run by taking 26 wickets in a series win against the West indies and achieved his career best figure of 14/191 during this series. On June 26, 2007, Chaminda Vaas scored his maiden Test century in a Test match against Bangladesh. Soon after this, he played his 100th Test match against England. As of 2008, Chaminda Vaas has played 107 Test matches and has taken 300 wickets at an average of average of 29.31 with an economy rate of 2.70. His wicket tally includes 20 four-wicket hauls, 12 five-wicket hauls, and 2 ten-wicket hauls. He is also a handy batsman down the order and has scored 2500 runs including thirteen half-centuries and a century.
On February 15, 1994, Chaminda Vaas made his One Day International (ODI) debut in a match against India at Rajkot and has been a regular in the side since then. During the 2007 World Cup at South Africa, he finished as the leading wicket taker in the tournament with 23 wickets. This tally includes a six-wicket haul against Bangladesh, in which he took a hat-trick that came in the first three deliveries of the Bangladeshi innings. In the following year, Chaminda Vaas was included in the International Cricket Council (ICC) World XI team at the inaugural ICC awards. A few years later, Chaminda Vaas achieved another mile stone in his ODI career by taking his 400th ODI wicket on August 27, 2008 at Colombo in a match against India. He shared this feat along with his teammate, Muttiah Muralitharan and the former Pakistani captains, Wasim Akram and Waqar Younis. As of 2008, Chaminda Vaas has played 322 ODIs and has taken 400 wickets at an average of 27.53 with a best bowling figure of 8/19 that came against Zimbabwe, which includes a hat-trick
In 2008, Chaminda Vaas signed with the Indian Premier League (IPL) side Deccan Chargers on a contract worth $200,000. He has played 4 matches for the Deccan Chargers team and picked 4 wickets at an average of 26.61 and an economy rate of 1.4, with his best being 2 for 9.
