If there is one man who has seen it all – the good and the bad of Sri Lankan cricket – that is Duleep Mendis. His association with the game stretches for five decades and he is showing little sign of slowing down. Why we decided to suddenly dig up the topic of Duleep Mendis is because the Omani side that he coaches has just beaten Sri Lanka in the Emerging Trophy tournament in Bangladesh.
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Oman’s rise in cricket is remarkable. The man who put a structure in place in that country is Duleep. They will be featuring in next year’s ICC World T-20 and that is proof for their steady rise in the game.
Duleep was Sri Lanka’s first cricket hero. The side depended heavily on his exploits during early days of cricket. Since 1980s brought cricket to the homes of fans thanks to the television, Duleep became a household name.
His twin hundreds in Madras in 1982 were legendary stuff and having finished with identical scores of 105 in both innings, he nearly achieved the milestone again at Lord’s in 1984 before being dismissed for 94 in the second innings. Long before Sanath Jayasuriya forced Manoj Prabhakar to bowl off-spin, Duleep did it – that too at the home of cricket. And the bowler who suffered the fate was no mean one as it was England’s greatest all-rounder Sir Ian Botham.
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To get an idea of the respect people have for Duleep you have to see him hanging around with the team in England. Autograph hunters chase him more than Kumar Sangakkara and he is a highly respected guest at numerous events giving after dinner speeches.
There have been many opportunities for Duleep to walk away from the game but his passion for cricket is such that he has chosen to remain with the sport. He was a top Director at country’s leading mercantile firm Maharaja’s but he chose to return to cricket. More recently, when he became a grandfather, it was felt that he has reached that stage where he would want to retire but he has kept going. At the age of 67 Duleep is showing no signs of slowing down.
Most people who played sport in 1970s and 1980s have become irrelevant now for the simple reason that the game has changed so much. The advent of T-20 cricket has taken cricket to a new level. But somehow, Duleep has found a way to stay relevant in this day and age of slam bang cricket. The reason for that is that he is an extremely good student of the game and keeps pace with the changing dynamics of the sport. While he has a sound knowledge on the technical aspect of the game what makes him successful is that his ability to manage players and teams.
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Duleep has seen it all. First as a player and then as captain. Post retirement, he has held all posts available in cricket from Head Coach to CEO. In between, the spell he served as Director, National Development Committee saw SLC’s drive to take the sport to every nook and corner of the country.
The initiative under Duleep’s leadership was meant to introduce the sport to new schools and as a result a record number of schools started playing hard ball cricket. Thanks to Duleep’s vision, cricket is no longer a sport secluded to the posh colleges of Colombo. Due to the talent identification system and facility to play the sport, a kid in Debarawewa MV or Thabuttegama MV has an equal opportunity to represent the country as kids who attend S. Thomas’ and Royal.
SLC has gone back to a system where the team Manager is also the Chairman of National Selection Panel. This was a system that they started with Duleep some 25 years ago and it was quite successful.
Duleep’s last stint with SLC was in 2011 when he was appointed as Chairman of Selectors. Current Test captain Dimuth Karunaratne was first introduced to the side during that period. The likes of Dinesh Chandimal, Thisara Perera and Lahiru Thirimanne broke into the side at the same period.
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His last assignment was Sri Lanka’s tour to South Africa in 2011 where the team won their first ever Test match in South Africa in Durban. Sadly, a month later he was sacked from the position with no reason given.
There was talk of him making a return two years ago as Team Manager but for some reason the efforts to bring him in didn’t materialize. But don’t rule out him from returning for a fresh stint in the future. His love for the great has no bounds and he keeps reaching new heights in whatever the capacity he is called up to serve.
