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Whither The Lankan Lions And Why Their
Pathetic Showing?
©Top Spin By Suni
For LankaWeb Cricket -Feb26th 2008
Whither the Lankan Lions and what has projected their pathetic showing
at the CB Series is the question needing to be asked about Sri lankan
cricket? One might have expected the new leadership at the helm of the
Cricket Board in the form of Arjuna Ranatunga to have injected some
extra zip and zest to their now taken for granted capabilities as they
trundle back to the drawing board to regroup and plan their next strategy
which will be in the Carribean and if what they were able to muster
as a pathetic display of negative cricket is repeated with 'nonchalance'
one would hardly like to speculate what awaits them at the hands of
the Windies who of late have shown every indication of being a revitalized
bunch of cridketers particularly on their home turf!
Perhaps the Lankans can shake off their shackles of derision after
this tour with a change of approach and attitude and harvest the rich
bounty of what might await them should they perform at their fullest
capabilities with so much talented youngblood some who definitely need
to blooded sooner than later! towards the makings of the world beaters
they once were which should be within their grasp if only they apply
themslves consistently and not play negative cricket which seems to
be their problem.
While saying it rather reluctantly,the culprit for Sri Lanka's negative
approach has to be captain Mahela Jayawardena who needs to take a good
look at himself in the mirror as far as his approach to leading Sri
Lanka is concerned or hand over the responsibility to someone better
equipped to led with assertion and self confidence.As a motivator and
a relentless pursuer of victory he has streets to catch up with by comparison
with his predecessor and mentor Arjuna Ranatunga who must by now be
overcome with dismay at the performance of the Lankans which seems to
be shared by many Sri lankan fans with every good reason to feel this
way!
True enough Mahela has built himself a reputation as a world class
player and a dedicated as well as respected captain but after the showing
at the CB Series there seems to be a few doubts about the full attributes
of the latter entitlement regardless of the tosses he won or lost as
there have been a few errors of judgement and ommision on his part that
have been quite visible towards this claim. For instance his choice
of whether to bat or field first have invariably been indecisive and
his timing of power plays and at times even his bowling changes as well
as field setting have been questionable and "Come on Mahela you
can do better than this!" has to be the exhortation he needs to
spurr him on to better circumstances and greater wins than the ones
he has already pulled off.
Sri Lanka have now been phased out of tri-series and have beaten themselves
in their must win game at Hobart as India eased into the finals with
an emphatic seven-wicket win as reported by cricinfo's staff writer
S. Vaidyanathan who suggested that " In what was a pathetic batting
display, Sri Lanka skid from a comfortable 1 for 72 to a perilous 7
for 93, blowing their chances on a flat deck. A composed fifty from
Chamara Kapugedera avoided a debacle but couldn't take away the one-sided
nature of the contest" and Sri Lanka have only themselves to blame.
Put into bat on a flat wicket which posed no real terrors other then
the deliveries from lofty heights by lanky opener Sharma and the new
face of Kumar who gave it his all in his debut Sri Lanka virtually crumbled
to a paltry 179 after a promising start where they were 72 for 1 and
seemingly coasting.Once again nonetheless there was a hint of difficulty
facing quick bowlers which seems to be a dilemma with Sri Lankan batting
particulary on Australian wickets for which there seems no plausible
explanation beyond an auto sugesstion relative to the subcontinent which
does not seem to be a chagrin for the Indians!
Then came the totally irresponsible bravado of Kumar Sangakkara charging
down the wicket as though a call of nature was impending and Sanath
Jayasuriya seemingly bothered by the Tasmanian flies buzzing around
his head ( or was it in his head one wonders?)whom he chased with diligence
only to edge into Dhonis gloves just as his pal Sangakkara had done
moments before and the rot for Sri Lanka had begun.The rest of the recognized
batsmen seemed better 'dressed' to participate in a Kandy Perahera rather
than a representative game of cricket at the highest level.
Had it not been for the resilience of the stylish Chamara Kapugedera,
Sri Lanka may have had a chance for an early ocean dip and an early
supper but was stalled fortuitously and the embarrasment of taking even
a far worse licking than the one they eventually did.This was prevented
through Kapugedera's resilience although the game continued on its painful
way to the chagrin of all the Sri Lankans watching with eager anticipation
around the world whose groans would surely have been heard from Canberra
to Woomera and Colombo to Jaffna!
India probably a tad bewildered by Sri Lanka's offer of 178 even before
the 50 overs were complete despite a toss won and sending their opponents
in were chasing 180 which was never going to be a big ask with Sachin
Tendulkar and Gautham Gambir who have been in sizzling form throughout
the tour collaring the somewhat lacklustre Sri Lankan attack with sparkling
displays of batting and finished off with gusto by Yuvraj Singh and
the Indian lower order who found no terrors in the Sri Lankan attack
which by now had taken on an appearance of mediocrity!l
It was all over bar the shouting for the Lankan who were offered first
lease of a flat pitch but weren't able to capitalise as once again a
lethargic performance with both bat and ball seem to have been their
undoing where neither Muralidaran, Malinga or their new find Amerasinghe
(why not Farveez Maharoof an often forgotten Giant?) had any say towards
even a semblance of a chance to be in on the final against Australia
leaving aside the star studded array of batsmen whose stars seem to
have deserted them and were hopping aroud like shooting stars in the
wake of the Indian pace attack!
Perhaps it is high time to provide opportunities for certain promising
players (casting aside whatever motivates the inclusion of wrong choices,
whether it be patronage or an error of judgement) waiting in the wings
towards a concerted team building effort, forget sentimental inclusions,
dump a few non performers and revamp the Lankan Lions and take a serious
look at who is best equipped to lead them into the future! Surely Captain
Cool must have a say in this if none other, even from his high perch!
India 3 for 180 (Gambhir 64*, Tendulkar 63) beat Sri Lanka 179 (Kapugedera
57*, Kumar 4-31, Ishant 4-41) by seven wickets
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