When Virat Kohli makes his way to the middle in a  Test match, often India are 150 for two. However, when Sri Lanka’s premier batsman Angelo Mathews walks out to the middle, it’s quite the contrary. Frequently, Sri Lanka find themselves 15 for two.

We have seen that during the current series against India often. Sri Lanka’s middle order is exposed by the 20th over and tackling a fresh Ravichandran Ashwin or Ravindra Jadeja becomes tough ask. That is why you need a Kaushal Silva, who will grind the bowling and see the shine off the ball. Kaushal knows his role as an opening batsman.

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With all due respect to Sadeera Samarawickrama, he has failed to that job in the current series. This is no effort to run down young Sadeera. His work ethic and attitude are as good as those of Kumar Sangakkara and you will see him going on to achieve some amazing feats, but Sri Lanka took a gamble by letting him  open against world’s number one ranked team.

Many seasoned campaigners have turned up in India and gone back home with painful memories having failed to master the harsher conditions here. India is not the kind of place to push a 22-year-old to the deep end.

Kaushal Silva was axed after he managed only 67 runs in UAE in four innings with a top score of 27. However, he did a terrific job for the team. Out of the four innings, he played in UAE, Kaushal batted for more than 20 overs twice and on one occasion occupied the crease for 18 overs. He had seen off the threat of Pakistan’s deadly seamers and had pushed Yasir Shah into his second spell and the work of the middle order was made much easier.

Similarly, when Sri Lanka won a Test series in England for the first time in 2014, his contributions were massive. At Lord’s he batted for 49 overs and 42 overs respectively while at Leeds he batted for 15 and 21 overs and by the time the likes of Kumar Sangakkara and Mahela Jayawardene were out in the middle, the opener had seen off James Anderson and Stuart Broad. That set the stage for the likes of Sangakkara, Jayawardene and Mathews to cash in. Often your contributions shouldn’t be measured by runs alone.

Coach Nic Pothas appreciated the contributions made by Kaushal after the series win that ended Pakistan’s unbeaten run in UAE.

“You have got to give credit to some of the unsung heroes. Kaushal Silva was fabulous. He took the spells off the opening bowlers and that takes the pressure off the middle order batters. He gives hundred percent on the field and is the absolute team man. Very pleasing that the new selectors are keen on picking characters. If you get the characters in we will get more results,” Pothas said.

Pothas would have argued for the case of Kaushal, but the selectors have not agreed on his thinking and Kushal finds himself out of the side. But whether his presence in India could have made a difference is a question to ponder.

“I do understand and agree that what Kaushal did helped us in UAE. There were times he batted out for 25 overs. When our middle order went in, we were into 40th over or so. That is what we need, but that has not happened in India. You can’t have Angelo, Chandimal and Dickwella going in the first 20 overs. If Angelo is going to walk in in the 50th over, it is going to be a different story for us. Look, I have a lot of time for Kaushal. The selectors are looking seriously at him. There’s a Bangladesh tour coming up as well and good times are ahead for Sri Lankan cricket,” Sri Lanka’s Manager Asanka Gurusinha said.

While his mates were struggling in India, Kaushal was in good touch for SSC making 140 runs. It was only a two-day game, but his ability to bat for three sessions should impress the selectors. Performance has to be the currency for selection no doubt, but relying simply on numbers is not fair either.

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The treatment meted out to Kaushal in January this year was grossly unfair. He had a poor tour of South Africa and was dropped. South Africa is the last tour that you want to gauge the merits of a batsman. Sanath Jayasuriya was the Chairman of Selectors at that time. Guess what Sanath’s average in South Africa is? A paltry 15. Russell Arnold was bemoaning the lack of character of the batsmen in South Africa from the air-conditioned commentary box.  With an average of 14 in South Africa, he didn’t fare well either against the likes of Shaun Pollock and Allan Donald.

The truth of the matter is that statistically, Kaushal has done better than both Jayasuriya and Arnold in South Africa averaging 19.

You could have understood that had the selectors brought in a young opener as Kaushal’s replacement for the home series against Bangladesh, but whom did they bring in? Upul Tharanga, who in fact is older than Kaushal! And how crucial was Tharanga’s dropped catch of Shakib Al Hasan as Sri Lanka suffered a first-ever Test defeat against Bangladesh? Your guess is good as mine. After all that, what did Tharanga do prior to the Test series against Pakistan? He chickened out from Test cricket taking a six-month break.

As the great man Kumar Sangakkara once said, ‘Like God, selectors all over the world move about in mysterious ways!’