It was quite disturbing to read earlier this week that Sri Lanka Cricket bigwigs had given fast bowler Lasith Malinga an ultimatum and were willing to move on. There is a likelihood of Malinga being left out of the upcoming tour to Bangladesh that starts straight after the Test series in UAE.
Malinga as he was in 2007 and 2011 is going to be a key weapon during the 2015 ICC Cricket World Cup and the upcoming World T-20. His absence could seriously jeopardize Sri Lanka’s chances.
Cricket authorities are in a dilemma as to how to handle Malinga. Over the last 12 months there had been some disturbing reports on Malinga. The worst was that he wasn’t willing to listen to fast bowling coach Chaminda Vaas.
For quite some time now cricket officials had been treating Malinga differently to other players and there has been some dissent over the years against the special treatment meted out to Malinga. The problem, however, is not with Malinga. The problem lies with those who manage him.
People tend to think that from being an innocent youth at Rathgama, the sudden fame that sees him travelling in Ambani’s private jet has been hard to handle for Malinga. But the truth could be far from that.
It could be a case of people who are managing him using him. In recent times Malinga has been quite outspoken on cricket matters. It’s doubtful whether the sentiments he expresses are of his own or whether he is constantly being fed with these information to be spoken in public.
In 2013 Malinga was involved in three franchises playing different T-20 league – The Big Bash, IPL and Caribbean Premier League. His T-20 earnings are said to be close to a million dollars and those who earn commissions from his earnings seem to be encouraging him to play more and more T-20 cricket.
Malinga’s first falling was in 2011. The manner in which he announced his retirement from Test cricket was appalling. Sri Lanka was banking on him heavily to succeed in Test cricket as Muttiah Muralitharan was retired. The new selection panel told him to return home early to prepare for the Test tour of England. There was resistance from Malinga. Perhaps Malinga was doing as he was told. Was he made to understand that by playing for Sri Lanka he was in fact doing the country a favour?
Malinga hastily retired from Test cricket. Sri Lanka has struggled in the longer version of the game having slipped to number seven in official rankings by the end of 2013. One of their main weak links had been lack of fire power in bowling.
The role of senior players soon after Malinga announced his retirement from Test cricket was also disappointing. Both Mahela Jayawardene and Kumar Sangakkara addressed media briefings in India while the IPL was going on justifying Malinga’s decision to quit Test cricket.
Ambani’s IPL franchise was thriving. Player agent’s commissions were growing and Sri Lankan cricket was suffering.
The remarks of former batting great Aravinda de Silva soon after Malinga’s hasty retirement from Tests were interesting. De Silva remarked that had he been the Chairman of Selectors he wouldn’t have let Malinga to quit Tests. He also went onto mention that all fast bowlers including his contemporaries had played through pain and pain killers.
It was further revealed that there was a move to leave out Malinga from Sri Lanka’s Test Matches in 2010 when Aravinda was Chairman of Selectors and that he had strongly resisted such moves.
When Malinga complained that his knees were weaker to stand the rigors of Test cricket, officials should have tested him. True that Sri Lanka’s physiotherapist at that point – Tommy Simsek gave a letter to the effect supporting Malinga’s claim, but the fact of the matter is that even Simsek had an IPL contract.
The board should have at least reached a compromise that if not all Tests; at least he should play a significant portion of Tests the country plays. What complete break from Test cricket has done is to give Malinga to play various T-20 leagues. By retiring from Tests at the age of 27, Malinga became the youngest man to give up Test cricket.
Our cricket officials aren’t forthright always. They continue to spoil Malinga. Look at what they just did. Apparently officials aren’t happy with the workload and attitude of Lasith Malinga and Thisara Perera. But what do they do to rectify the problem. They deny giving a No Objection Certificate to Thisara to play the Big Bash League saying he has work to do at home, but gladly give the green light to Malinga to play in Australia’s domestic T-20 league. Why are there different rules to two players? Has Malinga become bigger than the game? Does Sri Lanka Cricket fear Malinga’s agent?
Let Malinga and his agent be told one thing very clearly. Playing for Sri Lanka is not a service the cricketer is doing the country. At the moment their thinking seems to be so.
Player agents have already begun their campaign to disrupt Sri Lanka’s tour of UK in May this year. The event is clashing with the IPL and Sri Lanka’s authorities have assured the public that mistakes of the past where IPL was prioritized over national duty will not be repeated.
There was a report in cricinfo on Saturday that says that Sri Lanka’s tour of Ireland just before the series against England could weaken the IPL. The report was filed on the eve of a crucial Asian Cricket Council meeting in Colombo, where the bosses of Board of Control for Cricket in India were scheduled to attend. Not that we suspect anything fishy, but the report was filed by the business partner of Sri Lanka’s biggest player agent. Was it a mere coincidence?
