Sanath Jayasuriya rewrites history

Writing in my 'Comment' column in the Daily News I said that Sanath Teran Jayasuriya is on the verge of rewriting cricketing history. And history will be re-written when he makes the tour of West Indies for the ICC Twenty20 from April 30.

Jayasuriya has been named in squad of 25 from which the final squad to the Caribbean will be picked. He has been in brilliant all round form in the Inter-Provincial Twenty20 tournament and his selection will be automatic.

His election as a Member of Parliament in the April 8 General Election on the UPFA ticket is a foregone conclusion and when he opens batting with Tillekeratne Dilshan, he will become the first cricketer to play international cricket as an MP.

Historic moment

When that historic moment dawns, it will be great honour to the game and country. Jayasuriya has brought enough fame and honour to the game and country with his fantastic performances with the bat and ball and when he walks out in the Caribbean, it will add to his stature.

No one will begrudge this honour to this son of the soil from a village in Matara who has walked the playing fields of the world with great aplomb and distinction. He has had his detractors. But undaunted he has silenced them with his amazing comeback by finding touch when everyone had written him off. Jayasuriya suffered a sudden slump in his international form and suffered the ignominy of being dropped. This happens to every cricket great. It was no exception with STJ.

But what was admirable is that he hit back with a vengeance and rocked back to form with stunning performances in the recently concluded Inter Provincial Twenty20 tournament.

If he continues his form in the Caribbean, there is no reason why he should not be in the Lankan line up for the World Cup 50 over tournament that has been slated to be held in the sub continent next year.

IPL Twenty20

Beginning from March 15, it will be slogging like mad when the Indian Premier league twenty20 comedy gets on stage in several centres in India. The comedy will last for well over a month.

Several countries and cricketers billed to play in the comedy, expressed security concerns with many of them threatening to pull out. But they were between the devil and the deep blue sea.

If they were to skip the tourney, they would have stood to lose a lot of money. So they had no other alternative but to go and play and leave their safety to the Almighty.

But the IPL must be appreciated for the stand they took. They told the whiners in no uncertain terms that the tourney will go on and there will be no change of venues on any condition.

"We have assured you of the best of security. But if something unforeseen happens so be it. If you are reluctant to come, well and good. The show will go on." We have signed on many other cricketers. That was the message to the whiners from the IPL At the time of writing, none of the cricketers who had threatened to pull out have confirmed their pulling out. So the organizers can take it that all the top stars who have signed on will be in action.

IPL must be well pleased with the Lankan stars they have signed on. None of them or Sri Lanka Cricket did any kind of whining and showed security concerns. They had signed on the dotted line and like all honest people, they will play, because that is their job.

The Aussies and the South Africans were the biggest whiners. South Africa played a Test and one-day series in India and nothing untoward happened. That should give their cricketers who have signed to honour their contracts.

Khan and Younis banned

Younis Khan and Mohammed Younus, two of Pakistan's batting greats in recent times, will play no more international cricket for quite sometime. A committee of inquiry has recommended that they be banned.

But these two allegedly due to whom the disasters took place, have been fortunate and while being banned from representing the country have been allowed to play domestic cricket, or county cricket here and abroad. 'Mohammed Yousuf and Younis Khan, keeping in view their infighting which resulted in bringing down the whole team, their attitude has trickledown effect which is bad influence for the whole team should not be part of national team in any format' the PCB said in a statement.

In addition, one year bans have been docked on Shoaib Malik and Rana Naveed-ul Hasan. Sahid Afridi and Akmal brothers were fined Rs. 2-3 million for various demeanours and put on six-month probation. They were some of the cricketers who went to New Zealand, Abu Dhabi and Australia on tours that are best described as disastrous, where they lost the Test, one-day series and the Twenty20.

The manner in which the cricketers performed was a disgrace to the game, the country and players of the past who were excellent and played with great success and pride.

Unable to accept this disgraceful showing, the Pakistan Cricket Board quite rightly set up a committee of inquiry. The committee comprised six efficient men and was headed by former wicketkeeper Wasim Bari. It also included the board's legal advisor Tafazzi Rizvi, others in the committee were - Zakir Khan, Yawar Saeed, Wazir Ali Koja and a member of PCB governing council. The committee looked into reports from coach Itikhab Alam, manager Abdul Raqeeb and newly appointed coach Waqar Younis who was the bowling consultant during the Australian tour. Also questioned were Itikhab Raqeeb, opener Salman Butt and assistant coach Aaqib Javed, Physio Faisal Hayatt and PCB's cricket analyst Mohammed Talha.

Pakistan cricket for far too long has lacked the all important DISCIPLINE. There is absolutely no point in having brilliant cricketers if they cannot be disciplined. If their cricket is to gain their rightful place and challenge the best in the world, then DISCIPLINE is a MUST.

Otherwise their cricket will always be tagged PAKI-STUNNED or PAKIS-TANNED.