Tillakaratne Dilshan

Tillakaratne Mudiyanselage Dilshan (තිලකරත්න මුදියන්සේලාගේ ඩිල්ෂාන්; born 14 October 1976), commonly known as TM Dilshan is a former Sri Lankan cricketer and former captain of the Sri Lanka national cricket team.

Dilshan was born on 14 October 1976 in Kalutara, to a Malay father and a Sinhalese mother in a family with five siblings.

He was educated at Jaffna Sinhala Madya Maha Vidyalaya in Jaffna for primary education, and then at the Kalutara Vidyalaya, where he started his cricket career as a teenager.

However, his family did not want him to play cricket, so his only goal was to get ahead in sports.

Dilshan converted from Islam to Buddhism at the age of 16, and was known as Tuwan Mohammad Dilshan before his conversion.

His childhood coach Ranjan Paranavitana stated that even though Dilshan had a Muslim name, he and his siblings followed their mother's religion during their childhood and officially changed his religion and name after his parents separated.

Dilshan was married to Nilanka Vithanage, with whom he has a son called Resadu Tillakaratne.

After divorcing Dilshan, Nilanka filed a lawsuit over child alimony.

Dilshan made his Test and ODI debut during the Sri Lankan cricket team's tour to Zimbabwe in 1999.

He is also the second cap for Sri Lanka in Twenty20 Internationals.

He is the first cricketer in the history of the game to score hundreds in all formats as a captain.

Their marriage was celebrated in India during the 2008 IPL series.

Dilshan has two daughters and two sons from this marriage.

Their eldest daughter is Resandi Linama Tillakaratne, and second is Lasadi Dihasansa Tillakaratne.

Dilshan won the Twenty20 International Performance of the Year award at the 2009 ICC Awards for his 96 off 57 ball shots against West Indies in the semi-final of the 2009 ICC World Twenty20 in England.

He also won the man of the series trophy for his individual batting performances in the 2009 ICC World Twenty20 tournament.

He is often regarded as the best rated Sri Lankan player in run-chases in ODI history and one of the most innovative players of all time.He had a unique moustache style which gives him a remarkable personality.He is the top run scorer in 2011 ICC Cricket World Cup with 500 runs, and scored century against England in semi final of ICC 2011 world cup.

Dilshan is considered to be a rare example of a cricketer with notable skills in all aspects of the game, who can bat, bowl, field and keep wicket.

He is an aggressive right-hand batsman who invented the scoop, which has come to be known as the Dilscoop, a shot that hits the ball over the keeper.

Apart from being an opening batsman, he is also a capable off-break bowler.

Energetic in the field, he usually fielded at the point region.

He was issued with a notice to appear in court after the 2011 Cricket World Cup, but he refused some of these notices.

The case was later settled with Dilshan to pay about 200,000 LKR each month for his ex-wife and his son.

He was part of the Sri Lankan team that won the 2014 ICC World Twenty20.

He was also a key member of the team that won the 2014 ICC World Twenty20 and was part of the team that made the finals of 2007 Cricket World Cup, 2011 Cricket World Cup, 2009 ICC World Twenty20 and 2012 ICC World Twenty20.

He is the fourth Sri Lankan, and eleventh player overall to score 10,000 ODI runs.

Being the third overall and first Sri Lankan to score 1,500 runs in Twenty20 Internationals, he is also the first player to hit 200 fours in T20Is.

Dilshan scored 1000 or more ODI runs in a calendar year four times and never failed to amass fewer than 800 runs in any calendar year between 2009 and 2015.

His innings of 104 not out is currently the highest individual T20 score made by a Sri Lankan in the format.

Dilshan was under-estimated in the cricket world as an ordinary player when he batted at number 6 and 7, unlike his revered teammates Mahela Jayawardene and Kumar Sangakkara.

When he gained the opening batting position, Dilshan became one of the finest cricketers in the world and a legend in modern cricketing history.

His quick progression can be seen in his stats: after he moved to the opening position, he scored 21 ODI centuries and all his Test and T20I centuries.

In August 2016, Dilshan announced that he would retire from both ODI and T20I cricket at the end of the series against Australia.

He retired from ODI cricket on 28 August 2016 and from T20I cricket on 9 September 2016.

The court case was opened again in 2017, after Dilshan had failed to pay some of the monthly fees.

On 24 April 2017, Colombo Magistrate Courts issued an arrest warrant to Dilshan due to his absence in the Court.

However, Dilshan finally appeared on court on 25 April 2017.

Dilshan is now married to Sri Lankan actress Manjula Thilini.

Their elder son is Dihela Dinhath Tillakaratne, and younger son was born in 2017.

Dilshan's brother, Tillakaratne Sampath, is a first-class cricketer in Sri Lanka.