And finally the uncertain and agonizing wait is ended. The Bangladesh cricket tour to the country which was a ‘yes’, ‘wait and see’, ‘no’, ‘yes’ has finally been buried on the Sri Lankan turf cricket wickets and will be resurrected again probably next year.
After much agitation between Sri Lanka Cricket and the Bangladesh Cricket Association the tour has been left to rest and it has left cricket crazy fans dejected and disappointed in the country.
Not only the spectators, above all the cricketers and SLC officials who strained every nerve and sinew to see that the visitors would be here and umpires call ‘PLAY’ must be in an angry mood.
From the outset when the tour became a possibility and with Sri Lanka Cricket doing all it can to make the tour a reality and satisfy the locally starved international cricketers and the spectators, the Bangladeshi officials kept dilly dallying. They kept making some strong demands from the local cricket board.
While the discussions were going on some of the Bangladeshi cricketers were tested positive for covid-19. And again uncertainty of the tour set in.
Then the Bangladeshis demand that the quarantine period be reduced. Now Bangladesh should have realized that in Sri Lanka like in other countries there are laws to be adhered to.
And with prevailing covid-19 not sport to be played with, the Lankan Government under the strong and caring leadership of President Gotabaya Rajapaksa has applied laws and safety measures which is the envy of other countries and has admirably controlled the life threatening illness in the country.
Rules and administration cannot be thrown to the wind given the uncertain environment.
Truth be told, however, the Bangladesh cricketers even if they toured here would not have been much of an attraction because they do not have a star class, and even if a few spectators were to be allowed to watch them in action they would not have been a draw.
Even the TV media companies would not have stood to profit much as advertisers would have been fighting shy to advertise their products given the lack of excitement.
Now that the trauma of the Bangladesh tour is over, there will be no international cricket in the country although Sri Lanka Cricket is striving to get the Lanka Premier League on the turf. Here too there is uncertainty and cricketers will be hoping against hope that the tournament will finally be a reality.
Only Udana in IPL
It is sad that none of the Sri Lanka cricketers other than for left arm bowling all rounder Isuru Udna who is playing for reigning champions Mumbai Indians led by Rohit Sharma and coached by Mahela Jayawardena, no other Sri Lankan cricketer is in the IPL.
Sri Lankan cricketers were this time round not attractive enough for the franchise sponsors to make a claim to buy any other than Udana.
So its small satisfaction that in the ongoing IPL other than for Udana, the Sri Lankans on show at times on telly are Mahela Jayawardena and former champion off spinner Muttiah Muralideran as a spin bowling coach.
In the earlier tournaments many franchises contested to have Sri Lankans in their teams with some of them being top attractions who left their marks in the tournament. The days that Sri Lanka cricketers were crowd pullers seem to be eluding us.
The Sri Lankans who played in earlier tournaments are worthy mention: Lasith Malinga, Thisara Perera, Angelo Mathews, Mahela Jayawardena, Kumar Sangakkara, Muttiah Muralideran, Tillekeratne Dilshan, Farveez Mahroof, Chaminda Vaas, Sanath Jayasuriya, Ajantha Mendis, Nuwan Kulasekera, Thilana Thusara, Chamara Silva, Nuwan Zoysa, Chamara Kapugedera, Akila Dhananjaya, Suraj Randiv, Jeewan Mendis, Sachitra Senanayake, Kusal Perera, Dilhara Fernando, Dhusmantha Chameera, Nuwan Pradeep, Dinesh Chandimal, Asela Gunaratne and now Iusuru Udana.
Fantastic sixer hitting
Jessopian hitting was on display at the IPL the manner in which a little known Indian leftie Rahul Tewatia took West Indian left arm fast bowler Sheldon ‘general’ Cottrell to the cleaners the other day during the match between Rajasthan Royals and Kings X1 Punjab.
Never before has such hitting been seen in the history of the IPL. Tewatia smashed seven sixes as he made 53 off 31 balls. In one exhilarating over he hit Cottrell for four sixes in a row, patted the next ball and sent the next ball soaring over the ropes.
Tewatia’s brilliance helped Steve Smith’s Royals to make 226 after being set 224 for victory which was a record chase in the IPL.