Lankan star cricketers hoping for a turn of luck

The Sri Lankan cricketers flew to England on Sunday to figure in the ICC Champions Trophy, exuding, as usual, confidence that they will turn things around and bring home the trophy.

It will be a memorable trophy to win because the trophy is on offer for the last time. All teams will be wanting to engrave their name and make the trophy their own. and so a cricketing battle will be on in old blightey.

The Sri Lanka veterans - skipper Angelo Mathews, Mahela Jayewardene, Tillekeratne Dilshan, Lasith Malinga and Kumar Sangakkara will be praying to the cricketing gods to look benignly on them and help them recover their old form.

Come to a grinding halt

It is so important that these players click to underpin the hopes of winning two of the three games to keep Sri Lanka's chances alive of making further progress in the tournament. If they do not, things will come to a grinding halt. With the form and the morale of the cricketers who figured in the Indian Premier League at zero, Sri Lanka Cricket would have been appreciated had they got a sport psychologist to work on them. Why the SLC does not believe in a sports psychologist is inexplicable.

The Lankans are in a tough group with Australia the reigning champions, England and New Zealand. The three teams will be no easy beats. England especially with only the World Twenty20 trophy to show, will want to add a 50-over trophy to their shelves. At this time of the year conditions could be cold in England and the Sri Lankans who need the sun on their backs to perform better, will no doubt be struggling-- what with having to wear a lot of warm clothing.

IPL boasted to the world

The birth of the Indian Premier League was ushered in with great pomp and pageantry and theBoard of Control for Cricket in India which fathered the tournament boasted to the world.

They lured the best of cricketers by getting franchises to pay mind boggling money. Cricketers were made millionaires overnight and the money made them lose their priorities.

Patriotism was hit for six and out of ground and in cricketing parlance it could be called lost ball, as cricketers preferred to turn their backs on playing for country and rolling themselves in the muddied money that was flowing from barons.

Cracks began to show

With the conducting of every IPL bigger money began to flow in and with it the cracks began to show and the money dam finally burst with the spot-fixing which has gone to sully the name of the much hyped BCCI.

The tournament just concluded was the worst ever in its annals. It became a farce when the Sri Lankan crickets were not allowed to play in matches conducted in Chennai. That was a cricketing joke.

Then there were whispers that all was not well with the action out in the middle. And it shocked the BCCI and the cricket world to know that there was spot-fixing going on.

And it was a black mark on the BCCI because it was their countrymen who were involved in the ugly, sordid spot-fixing. The Supreme Court bounced at the BCCI saying it was their lackadaisical approach that led to the spot-fixing.

Calls to stall tournament

Calls were made to call off or stall the tournament. But thank cricket that did not happen. And had that happened it would have been a calamity, putting the future of the IPL in jeopardy. But now cricketers and cricket fans the world over are waiting with bated breath watching how the spot-fixing episode will unfold. On it could depend the future conducting of the money rich IPL.

Players were rolling over each other wanting to catch the eye of the franchises. If it is the end of the IPL there will be a lot of mourning and wailing, because the cricketers will stand to lose millions, especially the cricketers who were ready to turn their backs on the country that made them big names in the game which led to their playing in the IPL and carrying with them gunny bags.

Power house in the game

But the BCCI which is the money bag and power house in the game will not let the spot-fixing deter them and they will have the resolve and resilience to fight back and put on show an even bigger, brighter and better tournament next time round.

The Sports Minister of India Jitendra Singh has called the spot-fixing scandal in which three Rajasthan Royal cricketers and 11 book makers were involved as 'shameful'. 'It is very shameful. As a young person, as a sports fan, as the sports minister of the country, my head hangs in shame', said the Minister. At the time of writing the International Cricket Council has withdrawn Pakistan umpire Asad Rauff from the Champions Trophy in England next month following media reports that he was under investigation by the Mumbai police.

'In the wake of reports that the Mumbai police are conducting an investigations into Asad Rauff's activities, we feel that it is in Asad's best interests as well as those of the sport and the event itself, that he is withdrawn from participating in the ICC Champions Trophy,' a statement from ICC Chief Executive David Richards, said.

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