Absence of Mahela, Sanga would be felt badly
Sri
Lanka missed the best chance they had to emulate Arjuna Ranatunga and
his men's golden feat in 1996 when they surrendered meekly to South
Africa in the quarter finals of the 2015 ICC World Cup.
Sri Lanka, taking on South Africa a day after the nation celebrated
the 19th anniversary of Ranatunga and his men conquering the Mount
Everest in world cricket, failed to make their presence felt as they
lost the crucial game by nine wickets. It was South Africa's first-ever
knock out stage victory in a World Cup tournament.
With Sri Lanka's elimination from the World Cup, the country lost two
of its legendary cricketers in Mahela Jayawardene and Kumar Sangakkara
who played in their last ODI match before retiring from the game. With
Sangakkara and Jayawardene in full cry and batsmen such as opener
Tillakaratne Dilshan and Lahiru Thirimanne shaping well, Sri Lanka had
their best chance of winning the World Cup after making it to the finals
of the last two successive World Cup tournaments.
But it was not the most fitting tribute for the two former Sri Lanka
captains who would have loved to sign off on a winning note. Having put
on totals in the excess of 300 runs in their last four World Cup games,
the Lankan batsmen were all at sea in making 133 all out in 37.2 overs,
a situation Angelo Mathews and his men had dreamt of even in their
wildest dreams.
South Africa's Sports Minister Fikile Mbalula had praised his
country's team for ending the knock-out jinx. "Bunch of winners, bunch
of losers and now bunch of semi-finalists heading for a World Cup win,"
was how a thrilled South African minister commended the team after they
had crushed Sri Lanka by nine wickets. Minister Mbalula had thanked
skipper A.B. de Villiers for delivering on his promise that they won't
choke and the manner in which his countrymen had continued support to
their national team.
Sri Lanka will now have to wait for many moons to find equal
replacements to fill the vacuum created after the retirements of
Jayawardene and Sangakkara. One wonders whether Sri Lanka could ever
overcome their absence in the next few years. True that skipper Mathews
and a few other batsmen such as Lahiru Thirimanne have shown great
potential. But they will have to make it a habit of scoring and be
consistent.
Especially, handling tense situations in crunch games are no easy
tasks. Jayawardene and Sangakkara are masters in this aspect with their
vast experience, figuring in over 400 ODIs each for Sri Lanka. Hence,
the presence of former captain and explosive opener Dilshan is important
for at least another year until seniors such as Mathews come somewhere
closer to Jayawardene and Sangakkara's class.
It will be hard to find somebody to match legends such as Jayawardene
and Sangakkara. Their absence will be badly felt in the international
fixtures which Sri Lanka has to honour in the coming months.
Nevertheless, Sri Lanka is not staved of young talent. What is important
is to identify their different abilities and groom them carefully for
the future.
The exemplary cricket careers of Jayawardene and Sangakkara are a
morale booster for the country's budding schoolboy cricketers. The
manner in which Jayawardene had excelled for Nalanda and Sangakkara for
Trinity and their march towards the pinnacle of world cricket is an
inspiration and a tower of strength for any cricketer. This is precisely
why Indian master batsman Sachin Tendulkar had lavishly praised
contributions to the game by the Lankan duo.
Blaming the selectors or senior players is not the most appropriate
thing to do. However, we must take a stock on how Sri Lanka had fared in
the World Cup and what really had gone wrong for them.
Chairman of selectors Sanath Jayasuriya has all the credentials to
hold that position. Despite his political affiliations, one would not
dispute the praise-worthy role played by the master blaster who has
tremendous experience. Now that he has indicated that he would retire
from politics, he has more time to devote for the game and continue to
take impartial decisions for the best interest of the game.
Although all four subcontinent teams had made it to the last eight of
the 2015 World Cup, three of them, including Sri Lanka, have failed to
make it to the 'semis'. Hence, the cricket-crazy South Asia's hopes
would now lie with India, which beat Bangladesh in the quarter finals.
It is pity that Pakistan, similar to how Sri Lanka had fared against
South Africa, could not pose any challenge to defending champions
Australia in the third quarter final played in Adelaide on Friday.
As Misbah-ul-Haq had stated, Pakistan's fitness, fielding and batting
looked substandard. Opener Sarfraz Ahmed was the only Pakistan batsman
to score a century in the tournament. Wahab Riaz had captured 16 wickets
but he would have ended up with a better harvest, had Pakistan fielders
not dropped six catches off his bowling. The two catches dropped during
the Australian innings, turned too costly.
With the last of the four World Cup quarter finals being concluded
yesterday, the focus will now be on the semi-finals to be played in
Auckland on Tuesday and in Sydney on Thursday. But the most crucial
semi-final will be the battle of the titans at the SCG in four days'
time when defending champions Australia takes on the high-riding India.
It all points to an exciting week of cricket with the 'semis' of the
world's greatest cricketing extravaganza with the final of the 14-nation
tournament to be played at the MCG next Sunday (29). |