Will Sri Lanka be better without Malinga captaincy?
View(s):While most other teams are already working out with their core groups of players for the World T20 tournament later this year, Sri Lanka is in a royal mess, yet to even identify who their own core group will be.
The results in India weren’t unexpected but the manner in which Sri Lanka surrendered in the two matches played (the first was washed out) raises serious questions about team selection and captaincy.
Captain Lasith Malinga may have the best cricketing brain in the team and years of experience playing T20 cricket in leagues across the world. But he has proved a disastrous leader. Under him, there was clear disharmony and infighting . As previously admitted by the Chairman of Cricket Selectors, Malinga is not a good man-manger.
This is the very reason why he was sacked as skipper ahead of the 50-over World Cup in England last year. His removal did make things better for the team. It was not that they won each and every ODI match they played thereafter. But new skipper Dimuth Karunaratne brought a divided team together, creating a pleasant dressing room for all.
Under these circumstances, it is surprising as to why the selectors keep persisting with Malinga as T20 skipper. There was nothing to support their case. Leave aside his magnificent 5 for 6 against New Zealand–the only match Sri Lanka won under Malinga’s captaincy during the last 12 months–his own performance has taken a huge beating since he started leading the team. He has managed 9 wickets in 11 innings at 36.22. Sri Lanka have lost all five series, including the one just concluded in India, under Malinga. And this is a matter of serious concern as we head towards the World tournament.
It is also interesting to see Malinga, once the leading wicket-taker in T20 internationals having picked up 106 in 81 innings, faring badly against the Indians. In the ten matches he has played against that team, he has taken just 4 wickets at 72.50 against his career average of 20.20. This shows how cleverly the Indians have resolved the Malinga conundrum in the shortest format. In the recent series, Malinga who was expected to lead the pack by example, went wicketless conceding 41 and 40 runs in the two innings, largely contributed towards India’s resounding series win.
Also in question is his selection of players. Captain Malinga was all praise for his predecessor Angelo Mathews after he was recalled to the side following 18-month hiatus . He said he intended to use Mathews’s vast experience for the success of the team. He said Mathews was the ‘finisher’ in the side. Surprisingly, the 32-year-old was subjected to the most unkindest cut of all. He was benched for the first two games of the Indian series for reasons best known to the skipper and the team management which includes the manager an the head coach.
Mathews was only recalled to the third and final ODI after Isuru Udana was ruled out with an injury. And he proved to be one of just two batsmen who showed some resistance to India’s threatening bowling attack. His 31 on Friday was only half-decent, given his standard. If not for the fifth wicket stand he had with Dhananjaya de Silva, however, the margin of defeat would have been huge.
With less than ten matches to play before the qualifiers in Australia, the selectors will have to take a bold decision on whether to stick with Malinga as captain or bring in Dasun Shanaka who led Sri Lanka to a rare series whitewash against Pakistan in Pakistan last year.