Lasith Malinga has turned his back on Sri Lankan cricket by retiring from Tests at the age of 27.
World Cup winning former Sri Lanka captain Arjuna Ranatunga in a stinging attack has said that he would have given Lasith Malinga the ‘Pietersen treatment’ for quitting Test cricket. Ranatunga has gone onto state that no one is bigger than the game and Malinga should fall in line with the interests of Sri Lankan cricket.
For those readers who do not know what ‘Pietersen treatment’ means we would like to elaborate. England’s star player has never been at ease with the administration ever since his captaincy was brought to an acrimonious end. Last year, Pietersen announced his retirement from ODI cricket, according to England’s Central Contracts, a player could not opt to retire from one of the shorter formats of the game.
England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) had pre-empted tendencies from players to quit ODI cricket, to play more T-20 leagues world over and had inserted the clause on players’ contracts. ECB in no uncertain terms said that Pietersen, although is one of their key players, could not pick one form of shorter versions of the game and abandon the other.
Eventually, Pietersen toed the line. ECB stood firm. A clear message had been sent to all players. No one is bigger than the game.
In consumer markets, ‘customer is the king’ and in Sri Lankan cricket, there was a time when ‘player agents were kings’.
They even indirectly decided on which cricketer played which format, the timing of a cricketer’s retirement, whether Sri Lankans should play Test cricket or IPL, whether captaincy switch is legal or illegal and dare we say, maybe even the composition of the national cricket team. Malinga’s destiny was decided by a player agent.
The rural youngster could have been turned into a fast bowling sensation who was feared by the best of Test batsmen. Malinga had the attitude, charisma and the desire to work hard towards achieving his goals. But player agents saw the huge financial potential in him playing only T-20 cricket. Hence, Malinga announced his retirement from Test cricket at the age of 27 and since has gone onto play domestic T-20 cricket in Bangladesh, India, Caribbean and Australia. There have been discussions for the player to play T-20 cricket in places like South Africa, England and New Zealand and Malinga could soon explore the financial benefits in the T-20 leagues in these countries as well.
But his decision has come at a huge cost for Sri Lankan cricket. Last year, when the national cricket team was touring Australia, coach Graham Ford was lamenting the lack of fire power in the bowling attack. At the same time, Malinga was in Australia playing the Big Bash League for the Melbourne franchise and he was the most feared, most economical and most successful bowler in the tournament.
Sri Lanka were trashed in the three Tests and the team’s bowling lacked teeth. The tourists missed Malinga’s experience.
When Malinga announced his retirement from Tests, SLC failed to show firmness. Thanks to player agents the country has been robbed of the greatest bowling talent since Muttiah Muralitharan.
Arjuna also criticised lack of leadership senior players showed when Malinga was contemplating retirement from Test cricket. In fact, both Kumar Sangakkara and Mahela Jayawardene, who were in India playing IPL, at the time Malinga decided to quit Tests, supported the move by the fast bowler.
All fast bowlers have played through niggles, pain killers and injections. Malinga has been made to think that he is an exception. The fault lies not with the bowler, but with those who are managing (or damaging) him. In order to maximise the profits, national interests have been sacrificed. Player agents have put out this argument that Tommy Simsek, Sri Lanka’s physiotherapist at that time had concerns about Malinga playing Test cricket. However, very few realise that even Simsek had an IPL contract.
SLC did precious little when Malinga was contemplating retirement from Tests. Since Muralitharan retired, Sri Lanka’s fortunes in Tests have nosedived. The country is currently ranked a lowly seventh in ICC Test rankings, just above New Zealand, Zimbabwe and Bangladesh. The national team banks on Kumar Sangakkara to deliver the goods in the batting department and the star batsman has hardly disappointed. In bowling, while Rangana Herath has been shouldering most of the burdens, he has lacked much needed support. The presence of a Malinga could have done wonders.
There was a time when SLC did as the player agents told. Thankfully the board has derecognised player agents. SLC has said they will directly deal with players and will not go through agents.
We do not agree with SLC Secretary Nishantha Ranatunga, but his stance on player agents need to be appreciated. The curse of player agents is as big as curse of corruption in cricket. Our view from the outset has been that player agents should be avoided like the plague.
Playing too much IPL has adversely affected Malinga. Once in Hambantota during an ODI series, Virender Sehwag was asked why the Indians didn’t have much trouble in playing Malinga when rest of the world struggled against him. Sehwag’s answer was simple, “We are playing Malinga in the IPL. Maybe that’s why.”
Malinga’s record against India is pathetic. In 32 ODIs against India, Malinga has taken just 37 wickets at an average of 41.86, way above his career average of 26.53. Sehwag’s comments came a day after Malinga’s ten overs had gone for 83 runs without a wicket.
Sadly, any criticism of the IPL angers Sri Lankan players. The day after the press published Sehwag’s comments, the Sri Lankan captain at that time came to the rescue of the IPL by stating what good it had done to Sri Lankan cricketers. With such men calling shots, there’s no wonder why Sri Lanka is struggling to beat India.
The selectors are also at fault. The Selection Panel headed by Ashantha de Mel appointed Malinga as the vice-captain of the T-20 side last year. The current selection panel headed by Sanath Jayasuriya retained him as the vice-captain of the T-20 side. But the question needs to be asked is: Is it appropriate for him to be the vice-captain when there are serious questions about his commitment to Sri Lankan cricket.
