It’s a shame that some of our best brains in cricket had very little time leading the side. Ranjan Madugalle’s tenure began in Perth in February 1988 and ended at Lord’s in August 1988 and his stint was one of the shortest lasting a mere six months.
Fellow Kandyan Kumar Sangakkara was elevated to captaincy after much hype and he had quite an impact leading the team to two World Cup finals, Sri Lanka’s first ever series win in Australia and many more but after less than two years he quit captaincy.
Some captaincies on the other hand have been longer. Arjuna Ranatunga succeeded Madugalle in 1988 and lost it briefly when he served a suspension in 1991 and was back in the saddle by 1992. Then he had an unchallenged seven-year tenure from thereon.
Angelo Mathews another fine leader should have got a longer deal but less than a year after clean sweeping Aussies 3-0 was under the pump to throw in the towel. Before him, Head Coach Graham Ford had been given the cold shoulder.
It seems that Dimuth Karunaratne is set to hold on for the Test captaincy for a long duration as well after the selectors had wanted him to rethink his decision to quit after the recent Ireland series.
Dimuth’s reasoning had lot of sense. His opinion was that there should be a new leader for the next cycle of World Test Championship and with his vision set before the team and the selectors, his successor should start fresh rather than taking over midway through the two-year cycle.
Dhananjaya de Silva is the captain in waiting in Test match cricket and Dimuth felt that if all three seniors – Mathews, Dinesh Chandimal and himself – go around the same time the rebuilding under a new leader will be a struggle.
These are careful thoughts by someone who takes his job seriously and are certainly points to ponder. But when we have settled for a good leader, it’s not a bad idea to get the most of him, especially at a time when the national cricket team is not covering themselves in glory.
Dimuth may not have the stubbornness of an Arjuna, tactical brilliance of a Mahela, the ruthlessness of a Sanga or the attacking instincts of a Sanath, but nevertheless his methods have been effective.
Dimuth is a laidback character who doesn’t show much emotion on the field. He is more of a leader who prefers to have a quiet word with a team mate to bring the best out of him rather than putting the foot down and giving orders. You are yet to see an instance where Dimuth lost his cool be it on the field, at the press conference room or in the public. That’s the way it should be and those kinds of leaders need to be appreciated.
The selectors may have blown hot and cold and there is a bit of trust issue with their word and Dimuth himself was given bit of a rude shock after being unceremoniously dumped as the ODI skipper. But if you are to believe their word, Dimuth’s should last till 2025 as Test captain and he could go onto become Sri Lanka’s most successful Test captain.
As of now, Mahela and Sanath have won the most number of Test matches during their stints as skippers. Their numbers in fact are identical. While Sanath won 18 of the 38 Tests he captained Mahela too won 18 games in 38 Tests. Both captains lost 12 games each.
Dimuth meanwhile has won 12 Tests in 28 outings and if he does the job for two more years the record for Sri Lanka’s most successful captain will be his. It’s a well deserved one as well for the man who won a series in South Africa out of the blues at a time when our cricket was at the lowest ebb. Winning in South Africa is no mean task and mind you only Australia and England have won a series in the rainbow nation.
Dimuth has already gone onto become Sri Lanka’s most successful opening batsman. It’s a strange thing that most of our successful openers be it Sanath, Dilshan, Marvan Atapattu or Roshan Mahanama were converted into opening batters. Dimuth has been an opening bat throughout and it will be a proud moment when he reaches 100 Test matches, which is 14 games away and should happen during the next cycle of the WTC.
Together with that the title of being Sri Lanka’s most successful Test captain will be a huge honour to one of the most underrated and unassuming guys of Sri Lankan cricket. As a nation we should be celebrating these kinds of leaders, who never seek the limelight and are pretty thorough with their jobs.
