Despite making his ODI debut in 1994 aged 21, Chandana had to wait for five years to be included in the Test team. It came in the
Asian Test Championship Final in March 1999 against Pakistan. Chandana bowled 47.5 overs in the first innings and finished with
6 for 179. Over the next few years he made sporadic appearances for Sri Lanka and in 2002 he was named as captain of Sri Lanka A, when they played an unofficial Test series against
Kenya and Chandana topped both the batting and bowling averages. This helped him work his way back into the side in 2003 and after a match-winning innings against
West Indies at
Bridgetown, Chasing 313 for victory, he was promoted up the order to 5 and smashed 89 off just 71 deliveries with 6 sixes. Since then he was a regular player in the one day team for the next few years. When
Muttiah Muralitharan withdrew from the 2004 tour to Australia, Chandana came into the Test side as the main spin bowler. Despite being expensive, he took a
ten wicket haul in the 2nd Test at
Cazalys Stadium in
Cairns and is the only Sri Lankan bowler to take ten wickets in a test match in
Australia. Upul Chandana has the record for the highest test score when batting at number 9 for Sri Lanka(92). Chandana retired from international cricket on 15 October 2007 after Bangladesh tour. In an emotional press conference, he said that he was forced to take the retirement decision because of the politics that existed in the team selections. ==References==