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).