Whom did Chandimal fail — himself, the country or the puppeteer?
View(s):I would not be flummoxed or flabbergasted when I tune on my television or walk into one of the Test venues shortly, to see Rangana Herath batting with one of the top order guys, but, with only a few Lankan wickets fallen. The reason, little old roly-poly guy has been forced to come up in the order as the Lankans have run out of choices in the middle-order.
From fiefdom to freedom...?
The problem is the Lankan cricket hierarchy seems to have run out of ideas. It was only yesterday, that the Lankan lads were the top of the tunes and were pin-up boys with two major trophies – the Asia Cup and the T-20 World Championships in their pockets along with an all-in-one series win against England on their own backyard.
But, now everything seems to be running on the reverse. Suddenly the Lankan fielding has become a huge problem. The Lankan cricketers are suffering from an acute attitude. Some players want some time off the game with mental stress. The list of woes is getting longer and longer.
We are aware that the Lankan Cricket Committee is discussing the issues and has recommended some drastic measures like telling head coach Marvan Atapattu ‘you’ve got only one more series’. However, we at this end feel that this is the culmination of a series of events that were brewing in the cricket political cauldron for some time now.
These ominous signs began when the Lankan cricket management adopted less Tests policy and started paying scant respect to this aspect of the game. Yes, at forums that matters they may come out and shout their throats hoarse claiming that Test cricket should be preserved and nurtured as that is the purest form the game, but, back in their closets the very same persons went on to see how much they would stand to lose by hosting a Test match. At one point it went down to the level of the Lankan cricket management preferring to host the now defunct SLPL T-20 tournament rather than a Test match, yet, it ended up in Lanka losing the opportunity to play some Test matches as well as a few million dollars in expected revenue when the SLPL concept fell flat on its face.
However, the most immeasurable loss came in another manner. From March 2013 to almost end of that year, there was no Test cricket in Sri Lanka. Lanka’s best middle order batsman Thilan Samaraweera who was by then tattooed and branded as only a Test player called it a day through sheer disgust and now is playing some lowly grade cricket in the Dandinong area in Melbourne Australia to keep himself occupied. His loss in the middle in all forms of the game is now being felt and felt badly. They are paying for the blasphemy of not properly grooming another middle-order bat who could be trusted upon before pushing Samaraweera over the cliff.
Have we managed to plug that leak? No. That void has had a three-prong effect in Lankan cricket. Just go to the last Lankan series in South Africa. Samaraweera stayed out there at the crease for long periods and he got the young guns like Dinesh Chandimal to bat along with him. He shielded them and got them to play inning with confidence and Sri Lanka ended up winning a Test match against South Africa in South Africa.
Since Samaraweera left, Chandimal walks back to the pavilion faster than he could approach the popping crease. Mahela Jayawardena has been put under tremendous pressure because the price on his scalp has trebled. Down in the line skipper Angelo Mathews has become a voice in the wilderness and has to rely on Rangana Herath to go with a partnership that counts to anything.
Just about the same time Samaraweera was bidding adieu, there was another development. There came a round of short passes down the line where the crown exchanged hands between Sangakkara, T.M. Dilshan and Mahela Jayawardena (his second coming as captain); yet these were all short-term patches rather than solutions.
Upstairs at Maitland Place there was a game of monopoly on. The dice was being thrown around as to who would buy the Trafalgar Square and who would end up in the jail. Angelo Mathews — the inevitable was given the captaincy. But the management held back the T-20 captaincy and the post of vice captaincy in the other two forms of the game and threw it on to Dinesh Chandimal who was beginning to bloom like a real international professional. Chandimal’s appointment had more insinuations than the eye could see. So much so he began to wear it like a crown of thorns. The more he wore it, more it hurt. The more it hurt, the more it affected his batting. The more he failed, the puppeteers began to pull the strings harder and suddenly the string snapped in the middle of the Asia Cup series.
The puppeteers used him while on top. When some of the seniors flew across to India to take part in the IPL two seasons ago, Chandimal was made to proclaim that he would stay back on home soil and work on some of his loose ends in his batting with coach Atapattu. The statement was an apparent bid to undermine the seniors and make an unlikely hero out of an unsuspecting green horn.
Yet, once the string snapped, Chandimal lost his foot. The lad, who once looked most comfortable while gripping his willow, was holding the cricket bat like a witch’s old broom.
Now thanks to Billy Bowden, who even temporarily bailed Chandimal out of his national duty misery, the lad is repatriated to England labelled as ‘outdated batting material’.
During the three months in Bangladesh, Chandimal’s compatriot Lahiru Thirimanne was batting like hell. Back to back hundreds and a reputation which was glowing, he became the next in line for the cursed accolade. For the England tour Thirimanne was named the Lankan vice captain.
Now he too is on his way out with a string of batting failures since he wore the dreaded crown of thorns. Now he too may end up in Timbuktu.
Yet, what is the real reason behind this sudden slump? It is learned that the dressing room does not enjoy the presence of a certain official who is supposed to be the chief reporter of the in-house gossip paper, where the man who matters get the gen of what’s going on – not in the middle. We feel the politicisation of the dressing room has sparked off many untoward issues. If the status quo is given to continue unabated, there would be more debacles. We even hear the boys want this guy out of the room as soon as possible.
Time is a great healer. Whatever they may say, Lahiru Thirimanne and Dinesh Chandimal are Sri Lanka’s middle order of tomorrow and they will be back in style. But, they must bat in the middle with their heads above their shoulders and not in a cubical at Maitland Place. The puppeteers also must realise the damage that they are doing. If not, the Kithruwans and the Niroshans would also walk down the same ally as the other two.
Just see what ails Lankan cricket. Then just catch it by the collar and throw it over the wall to the next compound. Then the things will go right.
PS: I suggest that now that he has come out, 21-year-old Niroshan Dickwella be appointed the vice-captain for the Pakistan tour onwards, or else keep out of cricket politics altogether.