Sripali Weerakkody, the 34-year-old Sri Lankan bowling allrounder, has announced her retirement from international cricket with immediate effect, hanging up her boots after playing 89 ODIs and 58 T20Is since making her debut in 2006.
“I have decided to call it a day. So I feel this is the right time for me,” Weerakkody said in a statement released by Sri Lanka Cricket, adding that it was a “personal decision” to walk away.
Weerakkody, the right-arm medium pacer who had been a regular in the Sri Lanka squads till 2018, when she played her last international game, ended with 722 runs and 58 wickets in ODIs, and 209 runs and 31 wickets in T20Is, having represented her country in three 50-over World Cups – 2009, 2013 and 2017 – and five T20 World Cups – 2009, 2010, 2012, 2014 and 2018.
Weerakkody, who was also part of the Sri Lanka side that won the bronze medal at the 2014 Asian Games, ventured into professional fitness training recently.
Her last appearance in Sri Lanka colours was also in a World Cup match, the fixture against Bangladesh in the 2018 T20 World Cup in Gros Islet.