When Kusal Mendis was axed from the tour of India in November, a host of former greats took to twitter condemning the move. Sadly, there’s been hardly any reaction after Sadeera Samarawickrama was dumped.
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It’s true that Mendis has more appeal to the public as he already has three Test hundreds at the age of 22. Sadeera, who is also same age as Mendis, doesn’t even have a half-century to boast about. But make no mistake, this guy has got a bright future ahead of him.
The great Kumar Sangakkara was the first to practice and the last to leave the nets. Sadeera has taken that mantle from Sangakkara. With a tremendous work ethic and an appetite for fitness, there’s no reason why, he will go onto become a successful batsman.
These are early days, but Sadeera looks a lot like Hashan Thilakaratne. Not the style, but with the attitude. Hashan was a kind of player, who took numerous blows on the body but did not give his wicket away.
His steely determination saw him go onto become the first Sri Lankan to score a Test hundred in South Africa, perhaps the toughest place to play cricket an Asian. Unlike Hashan, Sadeera has got all the strokes and looks very comfortable against pace or spin.
Hashan was a jack of all trade. He could open the batting, play in the middle order, keep wickets and field at short leg. He was a captain’s dream. So is Sadeera with all those traits.
His fielding at short leg during the recent tour was a treat to watch. He took a few blows, the one in Delhi when Murali Vijay swept straight into his helmet was a nasty one. Sadeera was taken to a neurologist and had to be kept under observation for more than 24 hours. But when he was declared fit to go, he again voluntarily took up position at short leg. Not only has he got a superb temperament, but a big heart too.
Sadeera’s biggest strength is he will not allow the bowling to dominate. He is ready to cut loose from ball one. A decent score during the Test series in India would have helped him to hold onto his place, but just 74 runs in six innings wasn’t good enough.
The fact that his First Class strike rate is over 80 tells you the story. Sadeera will cash in once the loose ball is on offer. But the difference when you step up to Test cricket is that the bowlers are clever and bad balls become less. Had Sadeera perhaps curbed his attacking instincts, he would have been able to get a decent score. But often, you don’t get that natural flare.
Sadeera looks a breath of fresh air. His Test debut was in Dubai in Sri Lanka’s first ever day-night Test match. Yasir Shah had caused much trouble in the opening Test in Abu Dhabi. Sadeera’s first ball in Test cricket was from Yasir Shah and he fearlessly drove the leg-spinner. Getting his eye in is not the stuff that Sadeera believes in. He is a supremely confident batsman.
When he played the limited over games in India, Sadeera was superb on the field. He was diving around all over the place and for a team that has been labelled as worlds’ worst fielding outfit, his presence made quite a difference. A tour of India will toughen up a player. India are currently ranked number one as well and Sadeera would have learned his lessons.
Sanath Jayasuriya received lot of flack not long ago for some of the selections that he did. But as Sri Lanka’s Test captain from 1999 to 2003, he backed several young players despite mediocre performances earlier on in their careers.
The best example is Sangakkara. There was a hue and cry when Sanga replaced the popular Rumesh Kaluwitharana as the team’s wicketkeeper. In the early days, Sanga’s wicketkeeping wasn’t the most tidy, but Jayasuriya realized something special about the 22-year-old and he kept backing him. Sanga was never ever dropped in his career. The end result was stunning.
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Sanath used the same strategy with Mahela Jayawardene, who went through a horror World Cup in South Africa in 2003. There were demands to drop Mahela, but Sanath wouldn’t budge. His perseverance with the likes of Sanga and Mahela paid rich dividends in the end.
Sadeera’s replacement in the Test squad is Danushka Gunathilaka. That’s bizzare. Danushka has a First Class average of 30. Sadeera meanwhile averages 42 in First Class cricket.
Don’t forget that Sadeera was the hugest run scorer in domestic cricket last season. While he scored more than 1200 runs at at an average of 63, no one else was able to cross the 1000 mark last season.
Not only is Danushka’s selection a poor one, but it doesn’t make any sense as well. On one side you have a player with a great attitude and wanting to do everything possible to become the best he could and on the other side you have someone who is suspended for being drunk and turns up at the ground having forgotten his kit bag! It is a pity that the selectors have turned to the latter. The more Danushka Gunathilaka plays, the more convinced you become that his career is going exactly the Chamara Kapugedera way.
