Last week this column described Imran Khan as the Star that is cuddled by the Crescent Moon in Pakistan’s Flag. This week that Star stole the hearts and minds of Sri Lankans as Prime Minister Imran Khan made what was one of the most motivational speeches heard in as many years as we have played international cricket. The audience of sport fans, politicos and other enthusiasts. Imran Khan got adrenaline running all through their systems as never before! He also paid a special tribute to Arjuna Ranatunga.
Imran said: After my first appearance for the Pakistan side I was dropped. And so were others . The majority never come back again. So there are two ways you could deal with this he said: you could either give up and enter another career or you could actually learn from your first Test appearance. I had that ability to analyze my mistakes better than others, work harder than most others and then succeed. That’s why if you have that ability you will keep improving.
Paraphrasing the great Poet Iqbal he referred to Hawk who’s flying way above everyone else being told don’t be scared of the force of wind that hits you, its meant to make you fly higher. When you have resistance the Almighty has made us human beings such that the moment we face resistance if we stand up to resistance we get stronger.
Referring to his Islamic faith he said he believes the human being was made by Almighty God even above Angels; giving people immense power --incredible power-- inside us, but that “power will only come out when in light of the resistance we face, we pick ourselves up, and only then that power comes out , and the real human potential comes out. The problem, he said is if somewhere along the line we give up and that’s when we lose. So more you face up to resistance the stronger you get physically. If you put your arm against a heavy weight you are able to get stronger. The mind is the powerhouse and the more you put your mind into the to challenge it just gets stronger and stronger.”
Referring to the time we won the World Cup, he said the lesson is simple: All of us can become whatever we dream of. We should never stop dreaming anything that you can dream you can achieve provided you are prepared to struggle for it and provided you do not get demoralized from the bad times; instead every bad time is a time of reflection self-analysis so that you even come back much stronger”
“I must say that it’s a pleasure for me to see my old colleagues here. I have watched Sri Lanka since I came here first time straight out of University in 1975. I always thought Sri Lankan teams had great talent especially batting talent, but then they did not have the self-belief that they could win”. And then he recalled “it was exactly the same with us when as an 18 year old first played for my country against England, I remember my senior players telling me “look do not think we can beat the English we’ve just come here to learn”! My own players were saying do not think we can beat the English. As it happened in the series which we should have won but the English snatched defeat from the jaws of victory because we didn’t have self-belief. So I remember in 1975 Sri Lanka faced the same problem. But gradually I saw the team develop self-belief and I must say I commend you Arjuna , because you were the one who actually instilled that great determination and self-belief. And we were very pleased to watch you win the World Cup.
The improvement process never stops. So when I came into politics it was just like my first Test match. My party never got one seat. We were wiped out and you know everyone wrote my obituary in politics saying that this is the last you will ever see of him and I became the butt end of all jokes in the political circles. For almost 14 years people laughed at me as they thought that this guy will never ever make it . But I took the untrodden path. I started alone with no political background. It’s the lessons I learned in cricket that helped in politics. The key lesson is that you only lose when you give up. As long as you don’t give up you don’t lose. You lose when you give up.
Sports Minister Namal Rajapaksa who has his ears to the ground when it comes to sport in the country earned encomiums all round when he invited former illustrious cricketers to form a Technical Advisory Committee to the Ministry of Sport which will also function as a Cricket Committee at Sri Lanka Cricket.
Aravinda de Silva was the first Sri Lankan to score a century when the country won the World Cup tournament in Lahore, Pakistan by beating Australia in the final and he will have his team members Roshan Mahanama and Muttiah Muralidaran while Kumar Sangakkara also joins him.
The foursome and their deeds are all known by the cricketing public and are in the record books and needs no reiteration. During their glory days they were colossus’ who took the field and were better than the best known during that era when Sri Lanka Cricket was better than the best known.
This Technical Advisory Committee will advise the Sports Minister, Ministry officials and the National Sports Council which has the incomparable Mahela Jayawardena as Chairman on matters that are all cricket.
The committee has also been asked to work closely with SLC ‘in order to uplift the standard of cricket both domestically and internationally thereby ensuring and inculcating sustainable high standards of cricket in Sri Lanka’.
While this move by the Sports Minister will be appreciated by all, it will be interesting to watch how this foursome will put their cricketing brains together and lift the game Phoenix-like from the Ashes that it is in now.