Arachchige Ranasinghe Suranga Lakmal is a former Test cricket captain and a professional Sri Lankan cricketer who competes in all kinds of sports. He bats right-handed and bowls right-handed. He began playing cricket at Debarawewa National School in Tissamaharama. He was initially named to the national squad for the 2008-2009 trip to Pakistan, where he was alleged to have been injured in a terror incident on the Sri Lankan team by Pakistani terrorists.

He had to carry the so-called 'foreign objects' in his body during his playing tenure on the doctors' advice to continue his cricketing career following the 2009 Lahore assaults, in which he was gravely injured. Doctors urged Lakmal to take a two-year vacation from cricket to eliminate the splinters on his right arm and leg, and he also had complex surgery to remove the splinters. He also had to contend with the fact that he was not permitted to pass through security checkpoints during his abroad visits with the national side, attributed to the existence of foreign items in his body. Furthermore, he was obliged to explain to security personnel why he had a fragment of a metal nanoparticle embedded in his left thigh whenever he passes through a security metal detector at major airports.