Whenever Upul Chandana came onto the cricketing field, be it as a batsman, bowler or fielder, there was a buzz of expectancy among the spectators that something positive would take place. In all three disciplines of the game he was simply what one would term as "explosive". He very often made things happen and on many occasions would turn the game around single handedly in favour of his team. A former Sri Lankan cricket captain described Upul as any captain's dream and stated that in his opinion Upul, other than for his batting or bowling, deserved a place in any national team purely on his fielding ability which saves up to 40 – 50 runs per match not to mention his match turning run-outs coupled with his sizzling airborne catches.

Upul was drawn to the summer game quite early in life while being a student at Mahinda College Galle from 1977 to 1991. Endowed with uncanny talent he played for the College from the U-13, level right up to the U-19 level and in the process captained the U-15 and U-17 teams. Upul sent a clear message that he was indeed national material while playing for the College 1st XI team in 1991. Apart from his quality leg spin bowling and fantastic fielding, he turned out to be one of the best schoolboy batsmen in the outstations scoring 146 against St. Aloysius College, 104 against Ananda and 116 against Wesley. While in College he also played for Galle C.C. and was selected for the Southern Provincial team in 1991. Having moved over to Colombo and joining Tamil Union in 1991 he did yeomen service for them till 2002 being utterly consistent in all three disciplines of the game in first class cricket. He then shifted over to the N.C.C. for whom he now turns out.

Upul's extraordinary talents and versatility in all departments of the game saw the national selectors chose him to represent the President's XI against the touring South African team in 1993 and they went further in including him in the test squad for the subsequent tests although in reality he never made the final XI. However Upul did not have to wait long to wear the national cap when he played in the tri-nations one day series against Australia and New Zealand played in Sharjah in 1994. This opened the doorway for Upul to play one dayers against all test playing nations (147) till 2007. Also he made his test debut against Pakistan in Dhaka in 1999 and played 16 test matches against Australia, England, South Africa, New Zealand, Bangladesh and Zimbabwe till 2005. In between in 2002 Upul was asked to captain the Sri Lankan ‘A’ side against Kenya. In that unofficial test series both his batting and bowling reached dizzy heights enabling him to top both the batting and bowling averages. In an enterprising cricketing career starting from 1991 to date Upul lines up with the best of all-rounders produced by this country with predominantly eye-catching performances, statistics of which make interesting reading.

Batting and

Fielding

In 16 tests he has scored 616 runs with a highest score of 92 and has held 7 catches.

In 147 one dayers he has scored 1627 runs with a highest of 89 and taken 79 catches.

In first class cricket he has played 164 matches scoring 6316 runs with a highest score of 194 and has held on to 136 catches.

Bowling

In 16 tests he has taken 37 wickets with a best of 6/179 in an innings and 10/210 in a match.

In 147 one dayers he has taken 151 wickets with a best of 5/61. In first class matches he has taken 461 wickets with a personal best of 7/60.

That Upul was something out of the ordinary is obvious when one sees the amazing consistency displayed by him; however the selectors chose to ignore his talents since 2005 except for an appearance in a one day game in 2007. This was utterly frustrating for a dynamic all-rounder of the calibre of Upul and he retired from test and one day cricket in 2007. However he continues to play for the Royal Bengalian Tigers in the I.C.L. and last year was chosen for the I.C.L. World XI team against the champions. He also had a stint with English County Gloucestershire in 2005. The demands for Upul Chandana’s talents are still in great demand other than in Sri Lanka which only shows the accuracy of that saying: "A prophet goes unhonoured in his own country".