Spare a thought for Dimuth Karunaratne, who is in the form of his life having amassed 427 runs in his last three innings but he’s got to wait till the end of this year to get a flavour of international cricket after being snubbed from the ODI side.
Dimuth was going to be a stop gap leader and the writing was on the wall when he was overlooked for the inaugural edition of Lanka Premier League late last year.
Enter Kusal Janith Perera; an attacking, aggressive and swashbuckling batsman. KJP on Thursday told the press that he would like to reform the side in his mould. He stressed on facts like playing without fear, not being afraid to lose and going in with a winning mentality. These aspects are common with KJP the batsman as he throws caution to the wind, not afraid to take on the bowling from the outset. Fresh thinking like this is needed for a team that has underachieved in the past five years.
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KJP elaborated backing your instincts; like knowing your strengths and not being afraid to execute them. It is easy to change the outlook of a side when you have a young team. Now that the selectors have been bold in biting the bullet, their single-minded approach is going to be important to back the captain and players in spite of failure.
A series loss to Bangladesh later this month is not going to go down well with the fans or establishment especially after the sacking of half a dozen seniors. But the need is to look at the larger picture; whether the players are improving, are they applying themselves, have they fallen in line with the captain’s thinking of playing without fear and so on.
Sri Lanka is in such a delicate position at the moment in the ICC CWC Super League, their automatic qualification for the 2023 World Cup is on the fence. They cannot do many experiments. But the good thing is that someone has had the guts to put the foot down and accept realities. In case the team failed automatic qualification for the sport’s showpiece event, they should not go on the reverse gear but to move forward and look at alternatives.
However, a series win in Bangladesh will help them to make rapid progress and move to number nine from their current position of 12 in the ICC CWC Super League. There’s much more work that needs to be done as only seven teams earn automatic qualification for the World Cup.
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It’s so good to hear KJP’s positive talk. A nation that revolutionized cricket and gave opposition captains nightmares, took up desperate defensive measures in recent times. Sri Lanka were looking at one batsman to bat through the 50 overs something that England tried 25 years ago and learned bitter lessons. England’s aggressive brand of cricket brought them a World Cup title while Sri Lanka were hitting rock bottom.
Now that KJP has talked the talk, he needs to walk the walk as well. Basically, he needs to lead by example. Anymore failures of fitness tests will not be sending the right signals to a young side. Into the bargain, his hamstring has been a cause for huge concern and if he is ruled out that’s going to be a huge blow.
The indications from KJP’s media interactions is that he will keep wickets which means Niroshan Dickwella will be snubbed. Anyone who has followed Sri Lankan cricket would wonder that how Dickwella has managed to stay in the Test team but not in the ODI outfit. Mind you, here’s a guy who has not played an ODI since March 2019.
Dickwella’s game is ideal for one-day cricket. Someone with the mindset of being prepared to scoop the first ball he faces from Kagiso Rabada – 150kmph thunderbolt – has got to be backed. Into the bargain, his ODI numbers are better than his Test figures –with two hundreds and nine fifties in 49 innings. An average of 32 and a strike rate of 93 is pretty decent for a wicketkeeper. Rarely does he grass a chance too.
The selectors in recent times have had this bad habit of not naming a vice-captain. Their reasoning for not naming one are strange but thankfully this time they have done the right thing by naming one. There’s little doubt that Kusal Mendis is the heir apparent, and it is so important to groom your leaders young.
Ideally, this young Sri Lankan side should have Avishka Fernando as well; one of the most destructive batsmen. Such a pity that he has not played a game for 15 months now having failed the fitness test more than one time. In his last series – the three ODIs against West Indies – he scored hundred and a half-century – and the team needs him badly to sort out his fitness issues and return to the side for the England series.
*Disclaimer: The views and opinions expressed in this article are those of the author’s and do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of ThePapare.com.
