Marvan Atapattu made his runless debut in 1990, against India in Chandigarh,

Atapattu join with Virender Sehwag, Javed Miandad, Sachin Tendulkar and Ricky Ponting  in the list of batsmen with most 200-plus scores in Test cricket. His assiduousness was the perfect foil for the adventurous Sanath Jayasuriya, his opening partner for much of his career, but Atapattu had major hurdles to cross when he started out. He made his runless debut in 1990, against India in Chandigarh, where he was caught and bowled by Venkatapathi Raju in the first innings and then trapped in front by Kapil Dev. It took him till 1997 to get established in the side but, thereafter, there were runs aplenty – 90 Tests, an average of 39.02 and 16 centuries speak volumes of his class.