Sri Lanka’s highest paid cricketer Niroshan Dickwella was reduced to a mere spectator on the bench as his team played like amateurs against underdogs Bangladesh who for the first time beat the island-nation in an ODI series on Tuesday.
The result not only brought embarrassment to Dickwella who had no place in the team, but also handed Sri Lanka its fifth series defeat inside six months following losses to South Africa, England and the West Indies in both Tests and one-dayers.
While Dickwella, who has the potential to bat in the top five was sulking among the reserves, Sri Lanka’s equally highest paid player Dhananjaya de Silva batted like a lame duck, as did the rest of the batsmen in the first two ODIs.
In their eagerness to face the public and justify their new found positions and importance, Sri Lanka Cricket took one step forward and two steps back in sidelining or sacrificing Dickwella in the name of observing new players.
Chasing totals that were moderate compared to current trends in shot-making, the Sri Lankan batting minus Dickwella could not even play regulation cricket and not one stroke was played with authority apart from some desperate hitting by late order batsman Wanindu Hasaranga de Silva.
Questions have also begun to surface again on the wisdom of enlisting expert foreign coaches if the team has to become serial loses and if the players are not listening why go in for a waste of investment.
Head selector Pramodya Wickremasinghe spoke bunkum on the eve of the team’s departure as he became the most sought after cricketing personality the media clamoured for interviews.
“First we have to see how the players perform in Bangladesh and then have a discussion with the captain and coach when it comes to deciding the squad (to tour England in June),” Wickremasinghe said when asked by a reporter whether anyone who fails in Bangladesh will be retained in the team.
A Sri Lanka Cricket official who did not want to be quoted said it was better for Wickremasinghe to resign than to bring back the ageing players and live in the past.