Why do superstars lie?
-------Nation.lk
Why can’t superstars be honest to themselves? Why do they want to hide behind a veil and take the sporting public who have supported and admired them for years for a ride?
Sri Lanka’s master blaster Sanath Jayasuriya in an interview with our midweek paper ‘The Bottom Line’ when asked ‘Did anybody force you to make this (retirement) decision or was it a personal choice?’ replied: “No, nobody forced me; this was my personal decision. I thought I should concentrate more on my one-day cricket.”
Why should a senior cricketer like Jayasuriya say that, when it was common knowledge to many that he was first approached by the selectors and given an ultimatum that they would not continue with him in Test cricket because of his poor batting record.
Jayasuriya we understand was asked what his position was to the ultimatum and he had told the selectors to give him one more Test to announce his retirement to which the selectors had obliged. The Kandy Test against England was his swansong and he signed off in style with a typical robust knock of 78 off 106 balls, the highlight of which was taking 24 runs (6 fours) off an over from James Anderson.
At least now the selection committee headed by former Sri Lanka fast bowler Ashantha de Mel had realised and got it into their heads to tell Jayasuriya that it was time for him to go. When the former selection chairman Lalith Kaluperuma retired Jayasuriya, almost for the same reasons, 14 months ago there was a big hue and cry made by Jayasuriya that he was not ready to quit and that his hand was forced by the then selectors.
He made a comeback to Test cricket a few weeks after announcing to the world that he had retired through De Mel’s powerful political connections to parachute into the Sri Lanka team which was touring England at that time. With Marvan Atapattu also unavailable for the England tour through injury the selection committee had then picked three youngsters looking ahead to the future – Upul Tharanga, Michael Vandort and Jehan Mubarak. Jayasuriya’s late entry into the team put the tour selection in disarray. They couldn’t find a place for him in the team as an opener but eventually played him in the final Test as an all-rounder batting in the middle.
With De Mel at the helm it was not long before Jayasuriya was installed to his original position as a Test opener. But what De Mel and Co had done by taking such a decision was pushing back the years and depriving another youngster from developing into a fully fledged Test opener. Had the veteran opener justified his recall no one would have grumbled. But he had not.
If the contribution of Jayasuriya as a Test opener is anything after his recall here are the cold facts: 4 & 4 v England, 4, 47 & 73 v South Africa, 5 & 10, 0 & 31 v New Zealand, 7 & 39, 3 & 45 v Australia, Total: 276 (avg. 21.23).
When the Kaluperuma led selection committee retired him from Test cricket they had very good reasons for doing so. Jayasuriya’s batting record then was: 47 & 5 (no), 22 & 2 v New Zealand, 3 & 15, 2 & 36 v West Indies, 46, 13 v Bangladesh, 6 & 13 v Pakistan, Total: 211 (avg. 19.18).
The failure of Jayasuriya as a Test opener is quite evident here. He had somewhat retained his place because of his good scores in the one-day matches played between Tests. He has not scored a Test hundred in his last 16 Tests since he scored 107 against Pakistan at Karachi in October 2004. That was the reason why his career Test average dipped from a healthy 44 to below 40 until he scored that farewell knock of 78 which once again brought it back to 40.
No one would dispute the contribution Jayasuriya made to Sri Lanka cricket with his bludgeoning bat that brought virtually every international bowler to his knees. Like his team-mate Kumar Sangakkara said: “He inspired Sri Lankan cricketers and he changed the face of Sri Lanka and world cricket especially in the one-day arena.”
Mahela Jayawardene said: “Sanath’s loss is going to be very huge especially in the dressing room. Somebody who’s played that amount of Test cricket was the ideal person to get advice for both of us (Sanga and me) out there in the middle. That is something that we will have to learn to live with.”
Jayasuriya deserves all the accolades that have been written and said about him of his deeds on the field. Beyond the boundary it is a different Jayasuriya whom very few people know.
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