Playing an international game at the Mecca of Cricket – Lord’s, is a dream of every cricketer. Getting your name written on the prestigious honours board at Lord’s becomes the next big dream when any player gets to play at Lord’s.
Imagine achieving both of these things in just your 11th international game for your country at the age of 22. “That is a cricketer to watch out for!” – were the exact words uttered by the commentator on air right after 22-year-old Dinesh Chandimal reached 100 with a ‘monstrous strike over long-on’ in his 11th international game for Sri Lanka at Lord’s.
What followed in Chandimal’s career might not be exactly what was predicted by the commentator on that occasion, but the knock which brought those words remains one of the best knocks ever to be played at the home of cricket. It was a dream knock. In a run chase, for a very young player, to play the shots Chandimal played, against an attack who have played all their cricket in similar conditions, was definitely beyond imagination. But hold on before you go and watch the highlights of that innings, an exclusive revelation is to follow.
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Imagine if Chandimal fell short of the century and Sri Lanka still managed to win the game, he would have still won the Man of the Match award, but would that innings be spoken of 9 years later? Most probably, this innings would have had less significance for Chandimal and his fans than the century he scored in his 2nd ODI against India in Harare. So, Chandimal owes so much to the man who made his Lord’s century happen.
“The credit of that century should go to Angelo (Mathews) because he gave me great support to reach the milestone”, this is how Chandimal started answering the question about his Lord’s century in a recent Live chat show he was involved with alongside current Sri Lanka Test and ODI Captain Dimuth Karunaratne for ThePapare.com. Fans can all probably look back fondly at that Mathews innings, he scored only 1 run in 21 deliveries.
“I was batting on a score around 87 and the runs required for us to win the game was 18 or 19. That was when (Thilina) Kandamby got out and Angelo (Mathews) came in to bat. At this moment, Ajantha Mendis who was a reserve player for that game came running and told Angelo (Mathews), ‘Angie, let Chandi score his 100’”, recalled Chandimal.
He also went on to reveal that until Mendis had said that, he was unaware of his score and the fact that he had a chance to reach 100 before winning the game. “That is when I also realized that I had a chance of going for a century, after looking at the scoreboard. I was more focused on winning the match.”
“Okay Chandi, I’ll let you go for the century”, was what Mathews told his junior teammate at a stage when Sri Lanka required just 17 runs in 44 balls with Chandimal 13 runs short of a century. Sounds an easy task, but what followed was something a little strange.
A star all-rounder in the making for Sri Lanka with a reputation to finish off games, Angelo Mathews began blocking everything which was thrown at him. Mathews blocked the entire 47th over, bringing down the equation from 9 in 24 to 9 in 18. Sri Lanka’s skipper TM Dilshan started to lose his cool and gestured to his two batsmen to just finish off the game from the iconic Lord’s balcony. The English crowd started reacting. Amidst all these chaos, Mathews remained as cool as ever. Even Chandimal wanted to just finish things off.
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“The game dragged on for 2-3 overs longer than we expected to finish it off because Angelo was not taking runs. He badly wanted to let me reach the century. Then I panicked a bit and told Angelo that I don’t want the century, let’s just win the game as soon as possible”.
“Then Angelo said with a lot of confidence, that he needed only 2 deliveries to score the remaining 10 runs and finish off the game. So, he’ll wait to attack until the last 2 deliveries of the game and asked me to keep going for the century. The confidence he gave me boosted me immensely to reach the hundred on that occasion”, revealed Chandimal, who moved his front leg away and launched a Tim Bresnan delivery over long on on the 2nd ball of the 48th over and to get his name on the Lord’s honours board.
Even after Chandimal reached his hundred, Sri Lanka were 3 runs short of a win, which Chandimal scored to give Sri Lanka the game. That innings from Chandimal made the world believe that the ‘Sri Lankan brand of cricket’ was alive and well. Time to go and watch the highlights.
