Sydney was a special place for Sri Lanka and me
Sydney Cricket Ground is a very special place. Obviously, there’s lot of history associated with the game and it’s one of world’s most beautiful grounds. Over the years, Sydney has suited Sri Lankans more than any other cricket ground in Australia. For me, personally, it’s been a venue with nostalgic memories.I remember, in 2006, I was out of the side due to injury. With the team not doing so well in Australia, I was called up even before I was hundred percent fit. I landed in Sydney on a Friday, the game was on a Saturday and I was told I am playing. I had barely been in Australia for 24 hours when I played that game in front of a capacity crowd.
That was a massive challenge. I was returning after injury and Australia had a formidable attack. Never seen that much of grass on a Sydney wicket, but I got going and ended up making a big hundred. We posted over 300 runs and knew we had enough on the board and went onto win by a big margin. There were lots of Sri Lankan fans that night and they were overjoyed. The best thing about playing this sport is seeing the smiles on the faces of our supporters.
I know most of our fans are gutted after our defeat in Perth. I thought we missed a few runs. Our top order was brilliant but we didn’t have a good finish with Bhanuka Rajapaksa and Dasun Shanaka not being able to fire. We missed that additional 15 to 20 runs.
We are playing five batters and it is important that always one of them gets a big one and others bat around him. That’s the strategy that successful Sri Lankan teams used to win in white ball cricket. Charith Asalanka was excellent in Perth.
He is our future, not just in T20 cricket but across all formats. I am surprised that we didn’t play him from the outset. Simply because he didn’t do well in Asia Cup, you can’t sideline him. I wonder whether he would have played at all if Danishka Gunathilaka wasn’t injured. He showed how to bat on a wicket that had pace and bounce. He was good at building an inning and then accelerated. As they say, form is temporary but class is permanent. Charith is one hell of a player. Those kind of players are rare.
Going back to the Perth game, it is sad that we lost Binura. When you have the best conditions for fast bowlers and then one of your fast bowlers is gone, that’s a massive blow. The point with Binura is that you know he hasn’t played much cricket after his earlier injury. He should have at least played a couple of three day games to prove his match fitness before being selected. It was a huge mistake by the selectors.
Unfortunately for us, Wanindu had a bad day as well. He can have an off day and you cannot expect him to come up with match winning performances every day. Australia knew we were one bowler short and targeted Wanindu. I am not so sure whether going back to him when he had been hit was the right choice. The wicket didn’t have any assistance for spin and both Wanindu and Theekshana proved to be ineffective.
The other point that I can’t understand is that why Asitha Fernando was our first’s choice replacement. Asitha was part of the Asia Cup squad and we wouldn’t have even reached the second round of the Asia Cup if not for his batting exploits. I know that primarily he’s there as a bowler and you may have a bone to pick with me for backing him for his batting. But in cricket it doesn’t work like that. Trust me. There have been days where when I have got runs, my confidence levels are so high that I tend to do well with the ball too. That’s natural in cricket. So, Asitha should have been in the World Cup squad from the start. At least when the first injury happened. He wasn’t still called up. Not even when Dushmantha Chameera broke down. He was only recalled half way through the tournament after Binura was injured. That’s insane, illogical and a mystery. The selectors owe the nation an explanation.
On the other hand, during a big tournament, you need to prepare well. It’s not just on and off the field stuff but even logistics like getting visas for about 25 to 30 players because time is crucial.
I was so pleased to see Lahiru Kumara do so well. Soon after Sri Lanka Under-19 team toured England in 2016, the word went around that there was a fast bowler who bowled at an impressive pace. At that point we didn’t have someone who bowled in the range of 145 to 150 kilometres per hour. So we fast-tracked him sending him on an ‘A’ team tour and then we took him to South Africa. There he hit a couple of South African batters. That was the sign that this is a bowler capable of winning us matches. Unfortunately he has been plagued by injuries but we will see more match winning performances from him in time to come.
The weather is playing havoc and several Group ‘A’ games have been washed out. Teams like Australia and England are feeling the heat after a bad start. Unfortunately, you can’t do anything about weather and we have got to move on.