Desperate Sri Lanka pick Jayasuriya replica to resurrect fallen team | Sunday Observer

Desperate Sri Lanka pick Jayasuriya replica to resurrect fallen team

14 May, 2021
Kusal Perera
Kusal Perera

In a bid to entice new followers and bring back adoring followers, the under-fire and beleaguered Sri Lanka Cricket administration has named a new captain in the basher Kusal Perera whom many see as a replica of Sanath Jayasuriya on a facelift tour of Bangladesh.

Most Sri Lankans know of Kusal Perera as a natural boundary and six hitter in the limited overs arena who was for the first time publicly showcased as the new captain of a team that has sunk to the depths in world rankings and desperately in need of a new identity.

Like he does with the bat on the field, Perera wasted no time in making his intensions loud and clear.

“Only if we play fearless cricket can we win and go forward,” said Perera true to his reputation. “The more we play with a mind that is not fearless the more we fall further down.

“We have to come out of this mindset and nothing will happen overnight, but we have to prepare for it and this is what I want from my players.”

Sri Lanka will play three ODIs against Bangladesh on May 23, 25 and 28 as the new-look team according to Sri Lanka Cricket has no room for amateurs or ageing misfiring misfits.

For too long has Sri Lanka being dependent on the old guard, losing more matches than winning while the new faces and recalled players in the tour party will have much to prove after years of complaining they were ignored or not given extended opportunities to take shape.

The shake-up comes in the aftermath of a string of defeats that culminated in a 2-1 and 3-0 series losses against the West Indies in the Caribbean in March this year amid accusations that most of the players were mere drifters going through the motions in the absence of a team-selection committee.

New head selector Pramodya Wickremasinghe believes the time has come to look ahead with fresh thinking that leaves no room for players to rest on past laurels.

“We have taken into account the long term prospects. We are at the lowest level (in the rankings) and our interest is not to please everyone and to make Sri Lanka cricket great once again. This is the best decision we have taken going forward,” Wickremasinghe, a World Cup champion of 1996, told the media in an interview.

While Angelo Mathews, a veteran of 218 ODIs and 5,835 runs has been discarded along with the previous captain Dimuth Karunaratne, opening batsman Dhanushka Gunathilaka, conduct-wise, can consider himself privileged to be in the team that is an indication of the desperation of team-keepers.

Gunathilaka undermined his own image as a gifted stroke-maker with more than one case of bad behaviour off the field and has never been drastically taken to task while also returning to the side is batsman Kusal Mendis who last year was involved in a fatal road accident behind the wheel of his SUV.

Comments