Sri Lanka Cricket – All departments vacant, who are the candidates?

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The Sun and Sirius are the brightest stars of the Galaxy; similarly Sri Lankan Cricket has had Sangakkara and Mahela igniting their dominion for more than one and half decades.

One has ended his journey and the other is on the verge of egress; but will leave loads of pride and a history to a whole nation and their Cricket to savor for many a year.

The vacuum does not only comprise of a dearth of batting; but also the absence of class, knowledge, elegance, experience, glamor and authority. One comes and one goes in the train of Sri Lankan Cricket which has seemingly been bettered with the years. Roy Dias’, Dulip Mendis’ roles were occupied by Arjuna and Aravinda. The World Cup winning duo was amply replaced by two batting artists, one sings from his left and the other from his right. Is there anybody to put their hands up and replace them? A tricky question for sure.

This classy duo along with the acrobatic and forever young Dilshan have been keeping the island nation on top for more than a decade. The country has come a long way from where one legend in India said ‘Sri Lanka will never ever win a TEST match away from home’. Undeniably Kapil Dev got it wrong proving that he is never a good exponent off the field; despite his performances on the field.

Cricket is no longer limited to the capital, as the stars keep emerging from the outstations. Almost all the schools in the island are afforded equipment, coaches and the exposure needed. The island-wide tournaments from the under 13 level onwards, have no doubt enabled the boys to play their counterparts from around the island from a very young age, playing the game within the country as a single family; irrespective of where they are based.

Talent has been knocking on the door; but the classy old-timers were never too easy to be fired-off till they retired. It is the changeover period of Sri Lankan Cricket. “Easy come – Easy go”; you no longer have the well-known Ajantha Mendis as you saw him before. Mysteries were mixing with toe-crushers you will no longer find in the same fashion anymore in the attack of Blue.

All departments are vacant and who are the candidates to fill the positions?

A 29 year old slow-paced scorer had to wait until Dilshan’s retirement to get a place in the Test side; in spite of his back to back centuries for SSC. Kaushal is now set alongside his opening companion Dimuth, who scored one of the greatest hundreds for Sri Lanka on a green strip when his team was striving to save the game. Shehan Jayasuriya and Udara Jayasundara are waiting to jump in to the team at the expense of these two by putting pressure on the selectors with their performances in the domestic scene. Shehan, seems to be premature with his skills in all departments but has the essential feature of ‘nonchalance at the opponents’ which has been assisting Sri Lankan Cricket to progress as one of the top teams in the world from the 1970s.

Thisara has been dominating bowling lineups in world cricket from the age of 20 when he started to take many an international bowler to the cleaners. With his blossoming, the likes of Yasoda Lanka and Milinda Siriwardene had been outshone for sure. The 29 year old lefty, Siriwardene accepted with both hands the opportunity he got, in the recently concluded series and demonstrated what type of a player he is and importantly, how destructive he could be in international Cricket for many seasons to come.

The pearl of the Indian Ocean produced the best spinner to ever to play on the planet and what Murali always asserted to his youngsters was ‘you have to spin the ball a lot, if you want to go far as a spinner. The variations should come next’. Isn’t the young kid who recently made his Test debut, going on Murali’s path? Arguably the first spinner to come up the ranks as being able to extract a huge amount of spin on any surface like the great Muttiah Muralitharan, Tharindu Kaushal provided a good justification for the great man’s statement on his first match on home soil by taking a five-for .Most excitingly four of the 5 came from his stock delivery which is the off-spinner.

It’s always a pleasure to see a tall lad hitting the deck hard and finding the edges at his will. It is an ever- present threat in the attacks of Australia, England, South Africa and New Zealand. Dilhara Fernando strived hard to bring the same awe inspiring ability to Sri Lankan Cricket; but he is no longer in the cricketing scene. Now, this bloke is tall, lanky; he touches 150kmh at his will in any condition. Coming from an area where many pace men were discovered, Dushmantha Chameera is up there to take Sri Lankan Cricket to the next stage in terms of pace, bounce, and swing, which the island nation was desperately lacking in the recent past.

One may perform well in the beginning but will fade away unless talent is polished. All the same, the comeback is always welcome as long as you bring form with you. What if, the comeback is even stronger than your first appearance? Well, Chamara Kapugedara has made a comeback which will be equal to one of the best in the world as he dispatched the ball to all corners of the park on his return. Should he keep his form, it will strengthen the Lankan middle order for years to come, with his all experience plus his magnificent fielding skills.

To be a copycat is the imagination of a kid; but what does it matter if that takes you to the international level? Kusal Janith is a prospect and can outsmart any bowler in any condition in any level of the game. Meanwhile ‘Veteran Dilshan’ is being challenged by an ‘emergent Dilshan’ who is apparently Dilshan Munaweera, who has risen to contention with some breathtaking knocks and shots against the international bowlers in Franchise Cricket.

Dananjaya De Silva showcased that the old good text book Cricket is also a part of the Lankan youth setup and how good it would be when it is mixed with the unorthodox and real Sri Lankan brand of Cricket. Kithruwan, the classy and aggressive lefty with wicket keeping skills is striving to secure a place in the middle order; while some stylish batting is being produced from the young bats of Sadeera Samarawickrema, Rumesh Buddhika and Angelo Jayasinghe.

The talents are ballooning and the opportunities are opening up; but are they ready for the big stage to take Sri Lankan Cricket to the next level and to keep the momentum going? Only time will tell.