The silent achiever

It could not have been more fitting - Gautam Gambhir lbw Vaas 3, on a dusty pitch at the Feroz Shah Kotla Stadium in Delhi. A full-length delivery, pinpoint accuracy, a smidgen of swing, one more imploring two-armed appeal on bended knee, and yet another raised finger. Chaminda Vaas, Sri Lanka's crafty left-armer, had chiselled out one more opener and claimed his 300th Test wicket.

To claim 300 Test wickets is a fine achievement for any bowler, showing as it does that mixture of skill, stamina and strength of mind that lifts the great from the good, but it is especially noteworthy for a bowler who has played the majority of his career - 61 out of his 90 Tests - on lifeless subcontinental pitches, surfaces that restrict all but the best pace bowlers to passenger roles.

Gambhir's dismissal was typical of how Vaas goes about his business, the secret being sustained precision mixed with subtle variations; slight changes in line, length, angle and swing that frustrate and disorient. Of his victims, 37% have been either bowled or trapped lbw, invariably to the indipper, and another 25% have been caught behind, usually to the offcutter, although more recently to reverse swing too. It is a McGrath-like recipe that has stood the test of time.

We all love the fireworks, the toe-crushing yorkers and neck-jarring lifters. Those poor souls among us that are bowlers all strive for the unplayable -- the late banana swing that pitches leg and hits off, or the offcutter that jack-knifes back through the gate. But the boring truth is that accuracy, the simple ability to land the ball with the precision of a playing card, is the most fundamental characteristic that binds together the word's greatest wicket-takers. It's Vaas's greatest attribute.

Not only does Vaas's accuracy provide the foundation for his success alone, it helps explain some of the phenomenal exploits of Muttiah Muralitharan - Torvill to his Dean for over a decade now in what will be remembered as one of the great bowling partnerships. The two were made for each other, both thriving on the suffocation of runs and the slow build-up of pressure. Without Vaas at the other end, Muralitharan would surely have taken far fewer Test wickets.

Of course, when you play alongside a bowling colossus, a man that polarises the cricket world with each whirring spell of trickery, then it is not surprising that your contributions don't always grab the limelight that they deserve. Vaas is not quite the unsung hero any more, because people over the past three years have at last realised just how skilful he is, but he is still to get the full recognition that he truly deserves.

On Asia's lifeless roadways, he stands in the same league as Imran Khan, Wasim Akram and Kapil Dev, having taken 203 wickets at 26.44 in 60 matches before this Test. Akram claimed 216 from 49, and Imran snared 205 from 51. Both these legends were blessed with natural pace, a valuable weapon on the blandest strips. But Vaas, his speedometer rarely passing 80mph these days, has had to make do with cunning and determination.

But while Vaas has achieved success comparable to the best-ever Asian quicks, only now are the accolades starting to roll in. The fact that he operates in Murali's shadow is the chief reason for this, but his soft-spoken manner is another. There are usually only two reasons for him raising his voice, to holler another lbw appeal or sing another Sinhalese love song in the team hotel. He shies away from the media, preferring to be the silent assassin rather than the chest-beating warrior.

His graduation as a true Test force came in 2001 when he added reverse swing to his armoury and routed West Indies, claiming a career best 14 for 191 at the Sinhalese Sports Club. He'd always swung the new ball, mostly into the right-handers, but now he could curve the old one too, a skill he was forced to learn by watching hours of Akram footage - Akram promised once to share his secrets, but only after he'd retired. During a long dry season, he was an irresistible force, bending the ball around at will and helping to power Sri Lanka on to a record-breaking run of ten Test victories. That year, still his best, yielded 58 wickets at 22.81 from 12 Tests.

After bursting onto the scene in 1994-95 with a match-winning performance in New Zealand and then helping Sri Lanka to World Cup glory in 1996, he was forced to battle through a difficult spell when injuries threatened to derail his career. Vaas's reaction was a lesson to any youngster, according to Alex Kontouri, Sri Lanka's long-standing physiotherapist, who remembers him transforming his fragile body into a bowling machine with hours and hours of fitness drudgery. Vaas became a gym junkie, arriving each dawn at the board headquarters to start another gruelling marathon of weights. His sustained success since 1999 owes much to this unblinking determination and professionalism.

Ironically, the only two places where Vaas has thus far failed as a Test bowler are the two countries which offer traditional seamers and swingers the most encouragement, England and South Africa. But Vaas struggled to swing the Dukes ball during the last tour to England in 2002, claiming just four wickets in three matches at an average of 108.50. In South Africa, he has managed just 11 wickets in five games. Next year, though, with a half-season of county cricket at Worcestershire under his belt, he has a chance to make amends as Sri Lanka embark on a three-Test tour.

The only blot on Vaas's copybook was his recent misjudgement to mount a personal campaign for the vice-captaincy. Whether goaded into doing so by others or not, the behind-the-doors pursuit of official title was at loggerheads with Sri Lanka's communal team ethos, which rests on the premise that the team is bigger than the individual. He was successful in the end, being appointed before this series, but lost the respect of some team-mates in the process. The sad irony is that Vaas did not need the vice-captaincy because his status as one of Sri Lanka's fast-bowling greats was already assured.

Fortunately, now approaching his 32nd birthday, he has time to make amends and claim more milestones. His best days are most probably over as the old nip has now faded, taking with it the ability to bowl a dangerous skidding bouncer on all but the most lively of pitches, but, as he has shown during this tour in India, with accuracy, patience, skill and a cool head, he can still continue to lead Sri Lanka's bowling attack for a few more years to come.