Give us the chance, we will build a castle
View(s):First it was Joe Root who said –“Just give me a chance to build a mansion”, the Lankan obliged and so did Root build a mansion. Then it was the turn of the Lankans for the plea. At once Lahiru Thirimanne took the turn upon him and said “Give me the same chance that my neighbours gave me and I will build a castle”. Root obliged in the same manner and the rest became modern folklore.
Lahiru Thirimanne roars after becoming the youngest Sri Lankan to score a World Cup century, England v Sri Lanka, World Cup 2015, Group A, Wellington, March 1, 2015
After the Kiwis pecked and heckled the pride of the Lankans in the opening match of the World Cup tournament, the Lankans nearly capitulated against the little known Afghans – but thanks to that invigorating century by Mahela Jayawardena, the Lankans managed to pick their sagging spirit back. Since then four centuries and two fallen wickets have seen the Lankans scoring 644 runs that bagged two huge victories over Bangladesh and England.
Yes, three Lankans T.M. Dilshan, Mahela Jayawardena and Kumar Sangakkara have scored more ODI runs than the combined efforts of some of the teams that are taking part in this tournament. The 27,216 runs shared among the three batsmen in ODI cricket are simply staggering indeed. It appears that the top heavy Lankans have come to terms with the reality and are acting accordingly.
It all began in the game against Afghanistan. After Sri Lanka lost three wickets for peanuts, Mahela Jayawardena and Angelo Mathews guided the ship towards the coast and let Thisara Perera put the icing on the cake.
That little inning of Perera had a bigger impact in the Lankan dressing room than one could imagine. It saved some blushes for the entire outfit. It also may have saved some of the jobs at least for the time being. Yet, more importantly, the middle order woke up and rose to the occasion. Then the victory became a team effort and they once again began to believe in each other. That was the biggest bonus of that win against Afghanistan.
When the top knows that the bottom deck is ready for battle, automatically the top order bats with more freedom and this yields better results.
For a long while I could not understand the strategy of the Jayasuriya and Co with regard to the opening slots. Initially they left explosive Kusal Janith Perera back home after grooming him for nearly two years. Yes, we all accept he tries to emulate Jayasuriya himself and we were made to believe in that at least. He has to trust in his eyeball coordination and get at the opposition – just as former skipper Arjuna Ranatunga expected of Jayasuriya. But, it was not to be.
Then they looked at Upul Tharanga, but when he too failed against the moving ball, he was asked to stay at home. Yet, Tharanga is experienced enough to bat even in the lower order.
Then Jayasuriya and Co did a Mandrake. Suddenly they pulled out Dimuth Karunaratne out of the hat. Karunaratne is not a batsman who was groomed to play the shorter version of the game. He was not given the white ball at the practice nets with the national squad. Neither was he given instructions to get ready for the job. He is essentially an elegant opening batsman with the red cherry. But, with one good century in a Test inning, could one rush him to do what he is not accustomed to?
Then when he failed in that spot, he was asked to bat in the middle order. Essentially, Karunaratne is not a middle order batsman, but when the command ordered him to do so; he carried out the orders, but, not with conviction.
Then, Dinesh Chandimal is essentially a top middle order batsman. For reasons better known to them Chandimal went through a bad patch. He was kept out and then brought back into to the side to bat at number seven or even later – according to the situation. In short he is there as a stop gap in the batting order.
If he was not up to the required standard, he should have been left out and Tharanga who can bat at any position brought along originally. Now in a winning combination Upul is still sitting out.
Then Lahiru Thirimanne is essentially not an opening batsman. He is top middle order batsman. Then Lahiru Thirimanne is not Kusal Janith Perera or Tillekeratne Dilshan. He is not an explosive exponent. He prefers to build his inning brick by brick. But, with Dilshan now deciding to play the anchor, Thirimanne who is already batting out of his depths has to reach out and score. By hook or by crook, along with some dropped catches, the game plan has worked. Thirimanne’s knock in the World Cup opener against New Zealand was very impressive, though he batted in his newly acquired run building mode. I put it down to the genius in him.
With all what I spoke about, it seems, the winning habits of the Lankans which was in slumber have woken up and are now talking with the bat.
Then, what about bowling? With all these bones in the cupboard, some were trying to crucify fast bowling coach Chaminda Vaas for the Lankan cricketing sins. The system even went to the extent of getting former Lankan fast bowling coach Rumesh Ratnayake to put some sense into the flagging bowling fortunes, but, the run flow still remain the same. Bowling is still erratic and ineffective whatever the official explanation is.
Now the only bowler among the top three — Rangana Herath — is also injured and had three stitches in his index finger and will be out for at least a week. Then both Suranga Lakmal and Lasith Malinga are also not one hundred per cent fit and cannot go flat out. Thus when things go wrong the bowlers can’t go to their fallback plan.
In an ideal situation it should have been a new set of fast bowlers doing the job, leaving the injured to recuperate. Still the system would prefer to play Lakmal who almost lost his wits in the last over against England. For them Dushmantha Chameera is of unknown quantity. Then why blame Vaas? In India, Buvanesh Kumar and Ishant Sharma are finding it difficult to find a place in the side. They have other performers in their larder. In Sri Lanka we cannot find replacements for injured bowlers.
Yet, besides everything the Lankans have found the formula to be in contention and keep their reputation intact. For us at this end that is the biggest victory.
PS: Stop the blame game and be satisfied with the little victories that come by our way and keep looking for that elusive big one collectively.