Former Sri Lanka Cricket president Thilanga Sumathipala who turned the sport into a corporate business more than 20 years ago launched what he claims is a book that holds the secrets of the past that none other than the best left arm fast bowler of all time Wasim Akram flew in to endorse.
Sumathipala autographs his book Tharanaya
Akram was one of the honoured guests numbering nearly 300 at a glittering ceremony held at the Cinnamon Grand Hotel in Colombo on Friday night where the book titled Tharanaya and the English version titled Wave Maker was unveiled and presented to the former Pakistani trend setter.
Also pulled in to grace the occasion were three former Sports Ministers SB Dissanayake, Johnston Fernando and Dayasiri Jayasekera where a lot was said about what has become of the country’s most followed passion that has also made waves of a different kind with millions in dollars entering its coffers year after year creating an ocean of fortune seekers.
But Akram in all his known wisdom and generosity held nothing back as he declared the Wave Maker was not just for Sri Lankans.
“This book will be a game changer for administrations all over the world. How to be positive and how to back your players when things are not going well”, Akram declared.
Being the most ambitious cricket official at one time who set his sights on the top post at the International Cricket Council (ICC), Sumathipala had a premature ending to his career as an administrator over what was said to be conflicts of interests that he denied that subsequently paved the way for the current set-up at Sri Lanka Cricket to face charges of abuse, nepotism and corruption.
To his followers, Sumathipala was the king maker who turned cricket into what it is today, one of the best brand names in the country that raked in a billion rupees from just under three weeks of cricket at an international tournament called the Nidahas trophy featuring Sri Lanka, India and Bangladesh in 2018 after the Board of Control for Cricket changed its name to Sri Lanka Cricket in 2001.
“This is a book for the next set of administrators to follow”, said Sumathipala. “Sri Lanka Cricket is part of my soul and I want to see the game flourish”.
The book also chronicles the role Sumathipala played to clear and salvage spin bowler Muttiah Muralidaran from a chucking or throwing dispute and the exoneration of batsman Kusal Janith Perera from a four year ban over what was said to be an erratic lab report in a dope test.
Kusal Perera eventually made a comeback to the crease to feature in an epic Test match innings against South Africa in 2019 that came to be known as arguably the best match-winning innings in traditional five-day cricket.
Versatile Sinhala cricket journalist Daminda Wijesuriya is the author of the publication after a near three-year research that also documents Sumathipala’s entry into the scene as the voice of the players in the mid 1990s and behind the scene drama during the triumphant World Cup of 1996.
“It was my dream to write a book about cricket in Sri Lanka and it coincided with Thilanga (Sumathipala) asking me to write a book about his experiences. He is someone who has tuned cricket around and every step of the way for the past 30 years is in Tharanaya”, Wijesuriya told the Sunday Observer.
