Nobody complained when he bowled an excruciating over for Sri Lanka to get into the World Cup final.
Nobody complained when he performed numerous hat-tricks to bring Sri Lanka monumental victories.
Nobody complained at the exhilarating sight of him thundering into the toes of the hapless opposition.
Nobody complained when he literally broke his back trying to get the extra yard to get a batsman out.
Lasith Malinga has been an icon of phenomenal proportions for his motherland. His unconventional action and toe-crushing yokers will one day be this island’s cricket folklore. The real Malinga potency would have been unearthed only if he could have sustained test cricket. Imagine having to face session after session of Lasith Malinga bombardments….batsmen must be thankful!!
Fate brought him to the fore. This scribe remembers him a mere boy ready to go on his first sojourn to Australia. To a question of whether he knew the speed he bowls with, his unassuming answer was ‘I don’t know sister’.
His horizons expanded; his ability bestowed on him unbelievable fame and fortune and soon he realized he can and has to make a living off it. The boy wonder who was toast of the 2007 World cup in the West Indies for his flamboyant hair and scorching deliveries lapped up the attention and thrived in it. His yokers became deadlier and soon with added variations he became the most unplayable bowler of that era. If he had played at the time of Chaminda Vaas and Mudralidaran, Sri Lanka would have strangled every opponent.
Coming from playing cricket on the beach in Matara, this kid with inadequate exposure found that suddenly the world was his stage. The fact that some of this lime-light got to his head is understandable, it has happened to the best of people. And those who have not come from such beginnings and risen to such heights, cannot judge, should not judge.
Malinga has long been criticized for his mercenary ways. His continuous thirst for the IPL but not making himself available for test cricket with Sri Lanka needing his services desperately is vehemently condemned. Put yourself in his shoes, this is his vocation, it is all he knows to do, after wrecking his body delivering the unorthodox what is he left with. His bowling action and body could not have withstood the grueling form of test cricket, so he made best with what was on offer. He is entitled to do all in his power to increase his earnings and provide for his famiy’s future. It must cross his mind many times a day what he would do when his body packs up – in his case perhaps prematurely. We have to simply ask ourselves the question, what would we have done?
His recent utterances have obviously offended the media hugely. The Sri Lankan cricketers were in a crisis of their lives, they were fighting an authority that was threatening to banish them to obscurity in a flash. Their entire lives were at stake… The media was clearly hounding them, knowing full well they are unable to give statements. The persistent badgering was simply designed to draw a mistake – it’s a world-wide media tactic – a mistake was drawn and sadly a man, a hero in his own right was crucified.
Popular belief is that the cricketers earn plenty and do not need to fight for more. It is their entitlement to fight for what is rightfully theirs. We all do that in our respective work places.
This full fuss is about some simple lines –“mokadda.. ai thamuse meeta kalin mawa dakala nadda.. nikan yanawa manussayo yanna” it cannot even be referred to as abuse. What Malinga said cannot be condoned in any form but it must be observed by all parties concerned that it is a reaction in the heat of the moment and not something to launch a vengeful hate campaign on.
The media has shown their teeth only because it’s a harmless Malinga who is chained by Sri Lanka Cricket anyways and cannot retaliate. There are loads of other atrocities the media is privy to and issues in sport where certain disturbing monopolies are taking place, but none of this is brought up in the ferocity of this Malinga episode.
The world is made of different characters and all heroes are not neatly packed in pretentious packages, but we thrive on what they do, we hail them and worship them, – we don’t judge them.
