Suhan Alagaratnam

Suhan Kumar Alagaratnam (born 15 November 1986) is a Malaysian cricketer and the former captain of the Malaysia national team.[1] He is one of Malaysia's most successful batsmen with over 3,000 runs, spanning over a 13 year period. He most recently played at 2018 ICC World Cricket League Division Four in April 2018.[2]

Suhan Alagaratnam
Personal information
Full nameSuhan Kumar Alagaratnam
Born (1986-11-15) 15 November 1986
Banting, Selangor, Malaysia
BattingRight-handed
RoleBatsman
International information
National side
Source: Cricinfo, 24 October 2014

Career

Born in Selangor in 1986, Suhan Alagaratnam made his debut for the Malaysian national team in 2005 against Singapore. Suhan quickly established his place as a batsman in the middle order. This was highlighted by his 278 runs at an average of 55.60 in the 2008 ACC Trophy Elite. Suhan claimed the best batsman award [3] in the tournament after scoring centuries against Singapore [4] and Saudi Arabia.[5] Later in that year, at the age of 22, he took over the captaincy from Rohan Suppiah and went onto lead Malaysia for the next five years.[6]

Malaysia's progress as a cricketing nation developed under the captaincy of Suhan. He led the team to victory in the T20 version of the 2010 Air Niugini Supa Series in Papua New Guinea after resounding wins over Hong Kong and Singapore.[7] Malaysia also managed to retain the Saudara Cup and Stan Nagaiah Trophy in three successive years under his tenure. Suhan often ventured over to Australia during their summer to play grade cricket. It resulted in Suhan becoming one of Malaysia's most dependable players, along with Rakesh Madhavan and Suresh Navaratnam. He averaged over 45 with the bat in this period.

Suhan resigned as captain in late 2013 and was replaced by Ahmad Faiz. Without the pressure of captaincy, he could focus purely on his batting. After a poor run of matches, Suhan bounced back with a crucial match-winning century (101 off 96 balls) against Singapore in the third place play-off at 2014 ICC World Cricket League Division Three.[8] It saw Malaysia reach a record high ranking of 23rd in the world.

The majority of Suhan's batting career was spent batting at number four. For the 2015 ACC Twenty20 Cup, he was given a new role as opening batsman. He thrived in the role with 174 runs at a strike rate of 155.35, which included 86 off 45 balls against Kuwait.[9]

Domestically, Suhan plied his trade for Kuala Lumpur and Selangor. He captained Selangor through an unbeaten season in 2015 to win the Malaysian Premier League title.[10]

With over 3,000 runs scored for Malaysia since his debut, Suhan decided to take a break from his international career. He moved to Canada and continued to play cricket at club level.

After a three year gap, he returned to the Malaysian national team for 2018 ICC World Cricket League Division Four. In the opening match of the tournament, he top-scored with 61 as Malaysia defeated the favourites Uganda.[11] In October 2018, he was named in Malaysia's squad in the Eastern sub-region group for the 2018–19 ICC World Twenty20 Asia Qualifier tournament.[12]

References
  1. "Suhan Alagaratnam". ESPN Cricinfo. Retrieved 24 October 2014.
  2. "Six teams travel to Malaysia on road to ICC Cricket World Cup 2023". International Cricket Council. 28 April 2018. Retrieved 28 April 2018.
  3. "ACC Trophy Elite 2008 - Averages". Asian Cricket Council.
  4. "Singapore v Malaysia". ESPN Cricinfo.
  5. "Malaysia v Saudi Arabia". ESPN Cricinfo.
  6. "Q&A with Suhan Alagaratnam". Malaysia Cricket.
  7. "Awards". Cricket Malaysia.
  8. "Suhan stars in win". New Straits Times.
  9. "Kuwait v Malaysia". ESPN Cricinfo.
  10. "Selangor champions after unbeaten season". Malaysia Cricket.
  11. "Malaysia v Uganda". ESPN Cricinfo.
  12. "Exciting battle on the cards in the ICC World T20 Asia Qualifier B in Malaysia". International Cricket Council. Retrieved 2 October 2018.
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