Sri Lanka’s final super eight match against Pakistan today at Kandy’s hill climes Pallekelle International Cricket Stadium is just a going through the motions ritual of another world cup dream gone asunder as the once T20 world cup champions of 2012, and 1995 ODI champion nation’s cup dreams since then have melted in the last 14 years much to the dismay of a 21 million cricket crazy nation at the inability of the new generation players inability to produce the cup winning cricket for all the modern day high tech sophisticated training provided by Sri Lanka Cricket. The type of luxury facilities their predecessors did not have at the time, but muscled themselves in the iron bionic of superseding their way holding their own against any given opposition.
It is the fire spirits of professional maturity to conditioning to playing in whatever situation to coming on top that the contemporary Lankan players have been found wanting in the shortest format of world cricket’s most explosively gripping game that has transcended the sport in a new sellout package to millions for all its fascination.
As skipper Dasun Shanaka leads his team in a final fling of a failed world cup, a nation laments that fishing for post match excuses such as blaming the pitch conditions etc is a sad factor at a time the cricket board has made available players with every possible modern facility today that their predecessors never enjoyed is not the way forward.
A sad part of this failed cup dream in a long time, by and large, has proved to be nothing but a lack of professionalism of the ill conditioning of the lack of the desired mind set maturity by the frontline batsmen to chase a given target.
The badly lost game against New Zealand was the best example of this failure chasing 170 from the very first ball when Pathum Nissanka swung lustily, but aimlessly unsighted by Matt Henry’s thunderbolt delivery that crashed on to his stumps in an apparent rush of blood act. From that bad start that lacked the primary basic temperament of patience of first building an innings to next in Charith Asalanka who joined Kusal Mendis in throwing caution to the wind and going about swishing his bat to lofting the ball on the leg side that caused his downfall was a continuing failed X-Factor of chasing a target as others from Pavan Rathnayake followed suit in trying to take on the Kiwi bowlers instead of first playing themselves in and getting set to clearing the deficit.
One of the best exponents of phasing an innings in chasing a target was Pakistan’s former world cup winning captain, Imran Khan, not of the frontline status, but a middle order batsman whose greatest virtue was the calm he brought to his game unfazed by bad situations.
The Lankan batsmen’s biggest undoing has been cracking up under pressure instead of game plan conditioning themselves to going about a target.
Our own Asanka Gurusinha of the Arjuna Ranatunga world cup winning dynasty when Sri Lanka smashed up oppositions to pulp as they did in the world cup final against mighty Australia, was one of the finest exponents of building and carrying an innings as he did in that epic final when Sri Lanka had lost Sanath Jayasuriya and Romesh Kaluvitharana early on in teaming up with the little master Aravinda de Silva who as much was an absolute professional in run chases as demonstrated by his epic world cup winning unbeaten century. Gurusinha at the pivotal No 3 was a perfect run grafter proficient in the waiting game while not sparing a loose delivery as his half century in turning the tide on the Aussies in that historic cup triumph.
The contemporary Lankan bowlers have performed admirably despite the injury handicaps of key leg spinner Wanindu Hasaranga and slinger Matheesha Pathirana which is a type of failure on the part of the back up fitness medical men tasked with having players tip top in showpiece big-time cricket such as this.
The fly in the ointment has been the inconsistent batting where the front lines have been fazed off when chasing and tend to panic and simply flash their bats.
The game against Pakistan today that is a lost cause to either side however is yet a game on and the Lankans should apply themselves to outwitting a Pakistan side that has won over Shanaka’s men last time out not so long ago where their bowling attack bordering on some wily swing bowlers will be a challenge the Lankan batsmen will need to surmount for a consolation win.
