“If you analyze the side, I am not pretty sure whether we picked the right side and if you see some of the players were given very little chances and some were given more chances but I do not know whether we have the right combination,” said Ranatunga.
Arjuna expressed his sentiments along with Aravinda De Silva and Muttiah Muralitharan at the panel discussion with the 1996 World Cup Heroes – organized by the Sunday Times Business Club which which was held at Cinnamon Lakeside recently.
Confidence the key
Accepting that the current New Zealand tour is an advantage when it comes to conditions, former skipper Ranatunga was none too pleased with the state of the current squad.
“We rely heavily on the Sanga, Mahela and Dilshan. If they get out early it is the end of the road for us. If you look at the bowling Malinga is injured and Herath doesn’t look comfortable with his fitness while most of the squad is struggling with confidence.” he went on to say.
“What we thrived on in ’96 was confidence. We imparted the confidence we had in players even if they weren’t doing well. Not sure if they are doing it any more. We have a talented bowling attack but their mindset is not there. Attitude is defense and not bowling aggressively to take wickets. For me we are not playing OUR brand of cricket. Those days we sit together and analyze. Aravinda, Roshan, Gura (Gurusinghe) took the batting, bowling was headed by Vaas and Promo (Promodya Wickremasinghe) as well as the youngsters where the biggest contribution came from.”
Joining in the discussion Aravinda and Murali were also critical about the bowlers and their selections. Aravinda mentioned that we lacked aggressive bowling in this current New Zealand series where we were unable to finish off the job in matches where New Zealand were struggling.
“We are playing too many all-rounders. Need to have proper bowlers, which we had in ’96 and the last three World Cups. If the side went through bad patch to iron it out we increased the batters. Only as a cover we had all-rounders. If you look at now bowlers change from one tournament to another which results in no confidence and lack of performance. The injury worries compounds the situation,” The three times World Cup finalist and legendary spinner Muttiah Muralitharan added.
Local coaches or too many coaches?
When questioned about the impact of local coaches and having different coaches for specific aspects of the game Aravinda was quick to stress on the importance of ‘man management’ and was in high praise of the local coaching talent.
“If you look at the local coaching knowledge it is far greater than most of the foreign coaches. We have some of the best but the issue is local coaches should be independent from politics, favourations. That pressure comes. And one other area we are lacking is psychology where we need to strengthen our minds and quickly recover from bad patches.” the man who has excelled in some of the most demanding conditions added.
Arjuna expressed that he would always welcome a local coach while accepting that the game has changed so much that you need specialist coaches for different aspects of the game.
Continuing his seniors’ dialogue Murali agreed the game has changed from the 90’s to the current era where he has played until 2014 but was critical about having coaches who have played with the current lot.
“I don’t think having Marvan, Vaas is ideal where they have played alongside some of the current squad. You don’t get the same respect you should get from the players, I feel. Yes, maybe in four five years’ time but not immediately.”
Ideal squad & combination
“Some of the players I would have picked are back home,” Arjuna Ranathunga added like the maverick that he is.
“We are struggling with the openers and I am surprised Kusal is not in the squad. Sanath and Marvan had bad beginnings, but we saw what both of them could do. Sanath went for like 50-60 games without a hundred. These are the questions I pose at Sanath, who is the chairman of the selectors.
“But now that we have picked the squad we need to show we have faith in them, give them confidence and analyze the strengths and weaknesses. As of now Thirimanna is the best option to partner Dilshan for the opening spot. However with the weaknesses we are showing in batting I would like if Mahela dropped down to number 5 and Chandimal played in his stead.
“We need to be aggressive in the bowling department especially the fast bowlers. I would pick Suranga Lakmal for his raw pace and on a greenish track Kulasekara comes in handy. And against sides like South Africa, West Indies and England I prefer if we played with two spinners.” The ’96 winning captain added while in praise of Mathews who has improved tremendously in the past couple of years as player and as a captain.
Aravinda was also in the same wave length as Arjuna and expressed it is a “serious blunder” not to have the youth and power hitting of Kusal Janith Perera or the experience of Upul Tharanga.
“Tharanga can bat down the order as well and juggling batting positions is a mistake because you need time to get settled into positions. For the openers in my thinking it should be Dimuth who is a great talent, and Dilshan. We need to look at bowlers who are in good form and as of now Dhammika Prasad is bowling well and is bowling 140 plus. What I say is reduce these half all-rounders and put in strong bowlers.” Aravinda known also as ‘Mad Max’ for his daredevil batting cited.
The champion off-spinner, Muralitharan is clearly not a fan of too many all-rounders and believes too many of them disrupt the strong combinations you need to win a match.
“In my opinion we should go with seven batters and 4 bowlers. We shouldn’t have gone with too many all-rounders. It should be Malinga, Kulasekara, Prasad and the spinner I’ll go with the experience of Rangana Herath. Then you have Mathews and Dilshan to fill iin the 5th bowling slot giving better batting strength which suits the conditions in Australia and New Zealand.”
All three legends picked South Africa, New Zealand and Australia to do well in the 2015 Cricket World Cup and agreed on the fact that whatever the circumstances Sri Lanka has always performed exceptionally well in the past few World Cups and that the faith is there.
“Think freshly put the past behind. Quickly analyze the strengths and weaknesses and learn. It is the only way. Win two-three games without much contribution from Sanga,Mahela, Dilshan. The batsman will get confidence. Likewise without Malinga, the bowlers will get the confidence.” The ’96 World Cup winning master mind captain cool Arjuna Ranathuga ended on a positive note.
Video Replay of the Panel discussion with Arjuna, Aravinda, Murali & Kushil
