By M D P DISSANAYAKE

1.    TEAM INSTABILITY AT THE TOP:

So far in the game of Sri Lankan Cricket, there had been only one Leader who rose to the occasion and won  the world cup final to Sri Lanka.   That was none other than Arjuna Ranatunga.  Since then, we had big names, Aravinda De Silva, Ravi Ratnayake, Roshan Mahanama, Chaminda Vass, Lahiru Thirimanne, Upul Tharanga, Chamara Kapugedera, Lasith Malinga, Hashan Tilekeratne,  Sanath Jayasuriya, Marvan Atapattu, Angelow Mathews, Rangana Herath, Dinesh Chandimal,  Dilshan Tilekeratne,  Suranga Lakmal, Mahela Jayawardene,  Kumar Sangakkara, Tissara Perera and currently Dimuth Karunaratne.   This is a staggering list of 20  players as ODI captains, whilst not all of them had the opportunity to face a World Cup Final, none of them succeeded.  Change of 20 captains is an alarming situation, in order to critically examine the reasons for our failure to win a world cup since days of Arjuna Ranatunga, it is imperative to conduct Leadership Successive Planning strategy post-mortem, which will help in our future goal setting.

2.      2011 WORLD CUP FINAL:

At the end of the game, the economy rate of fast bowlers were:

Lasith Malinga:   4.67, Nuwan Kulasekera 7.8 and Tissera Perera 6.11.

At the end, the spinners had following unused overs:

Suraj Randiv  1,  Dilshan  5 and Murali  2.

During 41 to 50 overs, out of spinners, only Suraj Randiv  ( comparatively a new comer )was chosen for  bowling, and in 3 overs  India scored 12 runs, an excellent performance by the spinner.   Murali had 2 more overs left ( with no wicket), with economy rate of  4.88, but was not used during these overs.   Dilshan had 5 more overs left, ( with one wicket) with a economy rate of  5.40, but was also not used during these overs. 

During these overs, Yuvraj Singh and M S Dhoni were batting.  It is well known Yuvraj Singh had  been vulnerable against spin bowling with the moving ball and his foot movements. MS Dhoni has failed in many instances, playing against spin bowling, under pressure.

The Spinners were replaced by fast bowling attack. Tissara Perera gave 12 runs in 2 overs, Lasith Malinga gave 14 runs in 2 overs and  Nuwan Kulasekera  gave 18 runs in two overs.  Why part-time spinner Dilshan and world best spinner Murali were not used during death bowling?   If Suraj Randiv was effective in 3 overs, why others two spinners were ignored?

Did any bad blood interfere with decision making on the field?

Though some individual players achieved hallmarks, they cannot be ranked in the top category of Captains like Arjuna Ranatunga.