Sanath in 'new innings'

'I am not nervous, I am just not a good dancer':

Chamikara WEERASINGHE

Former Sri Lankan skipper Sanath Jayasuriya has been honest when he admitted he had never been on a dance floor and his contemporaries (he should have meant his cricketing friends) had mixed reactions about his decision to participate in the Indian dance show Jhalak Dhikla Jaa.

The master blaster at a press conference at the launch of the reality show on Saturday, hoped his fans would support his dance just as much they supported him at cricket.

Bollywood diva Madhuri Dixit, one of the judges of the show, came to his help and said: "We will give our tips on his performance, but only once the competition begins."

This was after the all-rounder gave a performance to the popular Bollywood hit song Tama Tama Loge. Jayasuriya was later seen matching some steps of the song with the original girl of the hit, Madhuri. "I am not nervous, I am just not a good dancer," he said.

Nevertheless cheers and applause were galore on Saturday as Indian spinner Harbhajan Singh and Jayasuriya gave their performances on a different pitch at Jhalak Dhikla Jaa season five. It was all a new ball game to behold when Jayasuriya's feet must move to the tunes of Desi beat and Saj dhaj ke.

Easier said than done on the dance floor. Jayasuriya has often been an unconventional player as a cricketer. This was even so on the dance floor.

He used to be a good batsman, because he scored runs, an outstanding batsman due to the way he did it.

Now that he is a contestant of the competition, he has got to adjust his stance, set-up, trigger movement among other things to the coaching manual of the Bollywood dance school. Jayasuriya is well aware of the situation.

"Now, I am involved in these things. They are looking at me differently. So I need to be careful," he said. "I feel that I have stepped into something which is not my comfort zone.

'But as a human being one should try new things. I am fine with new things," the cricketer said. We all know that he is a worthy opener.