Good captains don’t overstay their welcome. When Kumar Sangakkara was asked why he is leaving the captaincy so early – he was in charge for less than two years – he famously told the team it seems, “You should go when everyone is asking why, not when.”
Dimuth Karunaratne has done the same. Although his achievements aren’t as great as those of Sanga’s, in his own inimitable style, he helped rebuild Sri Lanka cricket. Not just rebuild the team but rebuild the team’s reputation.
The national cricket team was not a cozy place to be when he took over. There was a corruption scandal, there was ball tampering disgrace in the Caribbean, the Captain, Head Coach and Team Manager had been suspended for bringing the game into disrepute. Coaching staff, selectors and players didn’t see eye to eye. Worse, there was fighting within the team. Dimuth helped to change that culture. He helped Sri Lanka our reputation.
Yes, he wasn’t a M.S. Dhoni or a Mike Brearley, but by carrying out what he believed in, he helped the team to get together.
The team’s culture before he took over was something of mistrust. The white ball team had multiple captains while the Test team had four captains inside two years. Every senior had captaincy ambitions and the team was hitting new lows as a result of all players not pulling in the same direction.
Dimuth was handed the captaincy while on tour. He was in Canberra when the Board’s CEO called him up to inform that he had been appointed as captain. That was after a night out at the hospital having been hit on the helmet by a vicious bouncer. More bouncers were coming his way as the team was travelling straight to South Africa from Australia for two Tests.
The new captain started off by easing off tough restrictions. Curfews were relaxed, players were told to wear what they were comfortable with and there was an informal outlook to the national cricket team off the field as players were given more freedom. Some thought that the atmosphere was too chilled out. But Dimuth’s reasoning was that you all are professionals and behave like professionals.
It worked. Like in South Africa when Sri Lanka stunned the world with a series win. Even a star-studded team like India is struggling to beat the current South African side. But Dimuth skippered Sri Lanka to a series win over a South African side that had Hashim Amla, Dale Steyn, Vernon Philander, Francois du Plessis, Quinton de Kock and Duanne Olivier. That’s what self-belief can do. That’s what players can achieve when they aren’t carrying any baggage and stop worrying that someone is looking over the shoulder.
In recent years, Sri Lanka have had some brilliant coaches whose tactical and technical knowledge helped the team immensely. However, they were poor man managers and this is where the cool head of Dimuth helped calm things down.
Dimuth’s tenure as captain was quite a lengthy one – five years in all in which he skippered the side in 30 Test matches. There were nervous times in those five years and to his credit he didn’t abandon the responsibility and carried on in an exemplary manner.
Then, quite sensibly once the Test Championship was over, he indicated that he was stepping down. He argued that ahead of the new cycle of the Test Championship his deputy Dhananjaya de Silva needed to take over. The selectors at that point didn’t agree and wanted him to carry on, but it all changed early this year with new selectors appointed.
South Africa wasn’t his only moment of glory. He enjoyed Test wins over other formidable sides like Australia and Pakistan too and at one point Sri Lanka were within touching distance of the World Test Championship final before eventually finishing fifth.
Dimuth’s 12 Test wins is the same number of Test victories that the great Arjuna Ranatunga enjoyed.
At times, though, you’d get the feeling that the captain was too carefree. Sometimes when you are dealing with certain players you need to adopt a no-nonsense approach. It’s none of your problem what players do off the field, but on field, they needed to show more focus.
Take for example Niroshan Dickwella. He is probably the brightest guy to debut for Sri Lanka in the last ten years but after 54 Test matches at the age of just 29 he faded away not able to find a slot in any of the three formats.
Dimuth kept backing him saying that he is the best wicketkeeper in the country. He may have had a soft corner for Dickwella for he looked the ultimate team man too.
No doubt about Dickwella’s keeping. But he could have contributed much more with discipline into his batting and more common sense with reviews. Dimuth failed to get the best out of his keeper. At times a captain needs to be firm.
Ironically it was a dropped catch in New Zealand that forced the selectors to say enough is enough. By then, the captain had lost his bargaining power.
