He is an explosive left-handed opening batsman who first came into the public eye during the 1998
Commonwealth Games, when he scored a half century and achieved the highest score in the
South African defeat. His only ODI century was 132 against West Indies at Nairobi during the
ICC KnockOut Trophy in 2000. In that match, he revived the Sri Lankan innings from a precarious 10/2 to 287/6 and handed the Lankans 108 runs victory. He did not succeed in the longer version of the game. He made his Test debut against Pakistan during the Asian Championship in 1999 with 43 which remains his highest individual score in his 6 Tests. Despite a few centuries, avoidable dismissals stopped Gunawardene from regularly appearing for the team. Gunawardene's opportunity arose in the
Asia Cup in 2004 when
Marvan Atapattu was rested for a game. Gunawardene has been involved in Twenty20 cricket since 2004. He made his
Twenty20 debut on 17 August 2004, for
Sinhalese Sports Club in the
2004 SLC Twenty20 Tournament. A ban on him and four other Sri Lankans (imposed for joining the
Indian Cricket League) was lifted in September 2008, meaning Gunawardene was free to play domestic cricket in Sri Lanka. ==Controversies==