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| Thursday, 2 September 2004 |
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There is life without Murali - Mahela by Sa'adi Thawfeeq Muttiah Muralitharan has in the last 12 years become such an integral part of the Sri Lanka cricket team at present the players are trying to adjust and carry on with life without him. The world's leading Test wicket-taker will not be able to join the team and play competitive cricket till January next year having undergone an operation to his right bowling arm a fortnight back. However the Sri Lankan team has adjusted themselves superbly and overcome his absence by posting maiden Test and One-day International Series victories over South Africa. "We managed to realize that there is life without Murali," said Sri Lanka 27-year-old vice-captain Mahela Jayawardene. "He has been the match-winner for Sri Lanka for maybe the last ten years or so. But we need to get the other guys going as well to prove their talents that they could do the job for us. It is very good to have these kinds of options with us. It is really good for the future when it comes to selecting teams and combinations on different surfaces." "Life without Murali has been very interesting. We had to juggle the spinners. When you have Murali in the side you always give the ball to him and he always comes up trumps. Nowadays we don't have that kind of a bowler but the other guys have done a decent job," Jayawardene continued. "They've maintained discipline and stuck to their plans the way we discussed. We have got into a groove that we somehow managed to juggle the bowlers around and put the pressure on the opposition," Jayawardene said. "But with Murali in the side it is quite a different ball game. When he is there we know that he can put screws on the team and get wickets when needed. We adjusted ourselves to a different plan altogether. It has worked so far and hopefully it will work until he comes back," he continued. "We love to have him and not want him to miss any game. Hopefully for the team sake he will recover quickly and be back doing the job for us. Even when he returns this is a very good situation to be in. We can make changes and different plans against opposition. It's a good thing to have," he said. Jayawardene admitted that Muralitharan's absence from the team was in some way a blessing in disguise. "We wouldn't have Upul (Chandana) and Rangana (Herath) to come out and perform the way they have done. They have got the confidence back because of it. They have shown that we have players who can perform without Murali," said Jayawardene. "We don't have to put pressure on Murali when he returns. He will also know that there is not much of pressure on him and he will perform much better than he used to. When Murali comes back it will be a very pleasant headache for the management," he said. Having returned from Australia after a successful operation on his shoulder, Muralitharan joined his teammates in the Sri Lankan dressing room during the fifth and final one-day international against South Africa at the SSC on Tuesday. "Murali was happy about the team's performance. He is one of the guys in the team who keeps the happiness going through. Anytime he is the guy who brings the team up. It is good to have him around. Hopefully he will come to England as well," said Jayawardene who led his country to victories in the last two one-day internationals over South Africa to complete a 5-0 whitewash of the series in the absence of appointed captain Marvan Atapattu. The Sri Lanka team leaves for England for the 12-member ICC Champions trophy on Sunday. They are drawn in Group D with Zimbabwe and host England. |
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