Sanath Jayasuriya - conduct unbecoming

In the game of cricket or for that matter in any team sport no one is indispensable. The sooner Sri Lanka's most celebrated cricketer Sanath Jayasuriya learns that, the better for him and his team.

The manner in which Jayasuriya acted soon after he was left out of the Indian Test series is totally unbecoming of a cricketer of his stature and for one who has gained so much fame and fortune in the 15 years he has served the game.

It was all too evident and plain to see that Jayasuriya was not 100 percent fit during the seven-match one-day series against India, although he was sent on the tour. As a result of this, it was not only Jayasuriya who suffered from loss of form but the entire team.

His lack of free mobility on the field also affected the team's morale greatly because he was the one man whom the Indians feared most. On the basis of his poor form with the bat (he scored only 85 runs in six innings at an average of 14.16 with a top score of 27) and unfitness (dislocated right shoulder) the national selectors decided to keep him out of the three Tests against India which followed the one-dayers giving him time to recuperate and recover full fitness for the heavy international calendar that Sri Lanka has ahead of them for the next nine months.

But what does Jayasuriya do instead. He runs to the highest ranked person in the country and seeks redemption painting a picture that he has been unfairly treated using the bait that he was also a Southerner.

In order to satisfy (or be rid of) Jayasuriya who was constantly badgering him to do something to get him back in the team, the big man asks the National Sports Council head Saman Amerasinghe to investigate.

The story leaks out to the media who make a mountain of it. The much publicized report is yet to be handed to the President. Amerasinghe in the meanwhile gets all the mileage.

Not the first time

This is not the first time Jayasuriya has run to a politician seeking salvation. When he was captain, the selection committee at that time left out his opening partner Marvan Atapattu from a Test match against Test minnows Bangladesh in Kandy in order to give a younger player an opportunity.

But Jayasuriya would have none of it and through the then Sports Minister restored Atapattu in the team which led to resignation of the selectors.

There was also the case of a former selection committee chairman telling the media that he will in future have to take a video camera with him to selection meetings because he distrusted Jayasuriya. What took place inside was not what was converged outside, according to this selector.

Why such a high caliber cricketer like Jayasuriya should resort to this kind of imprudent acts defies logic. He has in some way set a bad precedent by running to the highest in the land.

Hasn't world renowned cricketers from other countries been dropped for poor form or injury? Players in the caliber of Greg Chappell, Viv Richards, Steve Waugh, Kepler Wessels, Javed Miandad, Wasim Akram, Brian Lara to name a few have been axed from their national teams.

But they never ran behind politicians to get back into the team. They either recovered from their injuries or slump of form and were picked once again after proving their fitness or form whichever the case maybe.

Is Jayasuriya above the law and an exception? For a matured man of 36 with over 100 Test and 350 one-day international appearances why is he acting like a spoilt child? Why does Jayasuriya want to remain in the team at any cost? Is it because he is missing out on his own share of the booty? If that is the case he is not representing his country in all honesty but doing so merely to fill his bank balance.

Talent never in question

Being a contracted player, Sri Lanka Cricket was not going to pay him a six-figure salary each month and see him sitting on the sidelines, but want him on the field of action as early as possible. He was dropped purely on the grounds of poor fitness and poor form. His talent was never in question.

What Jayasuriya has to ask for himself is whether he was honest to himself where his fitness was concerned. he may go through various medical and fitness tests, but it is the individual himself who knows what is best for him and what is not.

From what has transpired over the past one month or so the word honesty has alienated itself from Jayasuriya that it has merely become just another word in his vocabulary with no real meaning attached to it. That is the saddest part.

Even prior to his selection to New Zealand, Jayasuriya played for his club Bloomfield in the Premier limited-overs matches to prove his fitness and form. Although he made runs we are told he never bowled or fielded in most of the matches, which is another bad example he has set as a past national captain and senior cricketer.

By such acts Jayasuriya is fast losing his image as a cricketer and the popularity he has built over the years as a destructive opening batsman and a wonderful ambassador of his country. How can parents use him as a role model for their budding sons if the most famous cricketer in the country behaves in a manner not befitting his image?