Gunning for Mahela

Ranjan Samarasinghe

The local Newspapers carry almost daily articles from cricket fans ( or critics) calling desperately for the head of one of Sri Lanka's most illustrious captains ever produced in the recent times.

I do not wish to even attempt to compare him with Derrick de Saram,Sathasivam,C.I.Gunasekera Michael Tissera or Anura Tennekoon, merely because these gentlemen are from a different era, and played a different type of cricket.

Totally unconcerned about financial rewards, superstar status or business concerns. The type of cricket they played was in the ' spirit of the game' and true sportsmanship was the result , not that they lacked in skill, technique, dashing or in the ability to draw the crowds. However, in the past era the intensity, regularity and professionalism was not at the same level as at present and as such, they cannot be compared.

Mahela Jayawardene was hailed as the Best Test Captain in 2007 even though he was comparatively a novice in that capacity,compared to Ricky Ponting, Graeme Smith, Stephen Fleming and many others. He was also considered a shrewd and imaginative Limited Over captain, who had more than average results in the shorter versions.

Didn't he lead Sri Lanka to the runners-up position in the 20-20 World Cup? or have we forgotten? We as a nation have very short memories and do not hesitate to dissect and destroy those who have spilt their blood, sweat and tears in bringing Sri Lanka glory in the sports field, and I mean not only in cricket.

How can we forget what torture and humiliation that Arjuna Ranatunge, Aravinda de Silva,Roshan Mahanama, Asanka Gurusinghe, Hashan Tillekeratne and more recently Marvan Atapattu , some of the greatest to don the Sri Lanka Cap have been subject to. Let us be realistic, rather than being paranoid and emotional . Let us try to analyse what Mahela and also Sangakkara have gone through.

i. Both Mahela and Kumar, have brought Sri Lanka to a new level through their high quality Batsmanship. Whenever they both click, we have had positive results, both in Tests and Limited Over Cricket. When this happened these critics are over the moon.

ii. The frequency and durations of their commitments have increased tremendously, and our players have had to adjust from One-Dayers to Test matches without much rest or time to recover. As a result there have been increasing number of injuries,especially to the pace bowlers (eg: Malinga, Dilhara, etc). It is astonishing that the Old War Horses,Vaas and Murali have not suffered from burn-out.

iii. Sri Lanka does not have the same back-up as Australia or South Africa. Mahela has had to make do with relatively inexperienced replacements in the bowling, and batting too. It is very heartening to observe that the young brigade have produced encouraging and bold performances when Mahela and Sanga failed with the Bat.

iv. Malindha Warnapura, Michael Van Dort, Chamara Kapugedera, Chamara Silva and Co.and the Veteran T.M.Dilshan have risen to the occasion, to save face for Sri Lanka, although they have not been consistent enough at the highest level to win matches for us.

v. Even though he has faced a barrage of criticism, over our performances in the carribbean, Mahela has stood up to all this and not made any excuses. He has shown great courage and stability even in these situations. He has taken most of the blame to himself, and not blamed others for the teams failures. But, have we really failed.

vi. For the first time in history we have won a test in West Indies,and drawn the series. No country will be down for ever, the Windies regrouped and fought back with their experienced players, Chanderpaul, Sarwan and some newcomers to make the series very tight and competitive. That is what Cricket is all about. Only some people don't seem to understand this.

vii. Did not Sri Lanka, in England, come back from desperate situations in the Test matches and draw the Series, and also Whitewash England 5-0 in the Limited Overs. My dear friends, we have to take the ups and downs in cricket in our stride, like life itself.

That is what we learn from playing Cricket.

viii. Let us hope that the selectors continue with blooding the youngsters who are coming up, take the rookie Ajantha Mendis for example and guide them to reach greater heights. Persist with Warnapura, Van Dort, Kapugedera, Prasanna Jayawardena,Dilshan ( still a great fielder and effective,aggressive batsman), Chamara Silva ( oozingwith talent),and Upul Tharanga.

ix. In my observation, even the experienced batsmen have been vulnerable in the early part of their innings, to the moving ball, especially on and outside the off-stump.

This weakness has to be overcome. That is the job of the coaches. Aren't they paid handsomely to do their tasks ? Correct the pacemen, who regularly bowl no-balls. There is no room for excuses at this level. Dilhara has overcome this problem to a great extent.

x. There is no shortage of talent, Cricketwise in this country. It is the responsibility of Sri Lanka Cricket to harness this talent,and produce a disciplined and effective competitive fighting force with our players.

xi. If Mahela has shown weaknesses in captaincy, field placing etc. does not the team management have some blame to carry? These shortcomings can and should be sorted out at team meetings and at training / practices.

At the end of the day, if the batsmen do not score runs, and bowlers under perform will chopping the head of the captain solve all problems ? Definitely not. It will only demoralize him and put him under more pressure. It may also, further deteriorate our capabilities as a team.

Xii. What is necessary is to guide, encourage and mentally uplift the capabilities of our team including Mahela, and not make him a scapegoat .

If Mahela on his own accord wishes to step-down, obviously Kumar Sangakkara has to be an automatic choice.

But this issue should be settled amicably between Mahela and Kumar who have been a great combination together, both on and off the field, and thisrelationship should always be preserved as long as they continue to play together and even after their playing days are over. If a decision is forced to them, it will do irreparable damage to Sri Lanka Cricket.