Sangakkara should follow Ranatungas footsteps
On expected lines Sri Lankan skipper Kumar Sangakkarawho instructed his spinner Suraj Randiv to bowl a no ball to deny Sehwag a hundred went scot free while poor Suraj Randiv who merely followed his skippers instructions was given a one match ban. Sri Lankan board made Tilakratne Dilshan a temporary scape goat to save for the time being the already under fire Sangakkara renowned for his past unsporting activities.
While the noball controversy ended with Sri Lankan boards apologies to Indian board and Randivs apology to Sehwag and a one match ban on Randiv an artcile which appeared in today's newspapers was a shocker. Sangakkara blasted Sehwag saying that he and Indian cricket board are going overboard and criticized Indian team for the infamous Sydney test controversy which involved Andrew Symonds and Harbhajan Singh. Sangakkara has gone a step ahead and blamed the BCCI for flexing its arms and controlling ICC and blasted Indian media for promoting its players.
In the first place Sangakkara has no right for criticizing Indian team for Sydney test because Sri Lankans did not participate in the test and were totally ignorant of what exactly happened during the test. Even BCCI took a decision only after getting a report from the Team Manager and also ordered for a enquiry which was conducted by a Australian jury in Australia which gave a clean chit to Indian team. Secondly by indirectly supporting Australian team he has insulted millions of Sri Lankan fans because it was an Australian umpire who no balled Muralidharan several times in a test match and rightly so for chucking. Many a time Muralidharan was booed in Australian and he once even wowed that he will tour Australia only if he is not booed. When Muralidharan was targeted by Australian umpires it was BCCI who intervened and saved Muralidharan's career and Sri Lankan teams fortunes even though BCCI and the entire world knew Murali was a chucker. Whether BCCI saved Muralidhran our of Asian love or in their own interests of vote bank politics the end result was Muralidharan was the beneficiary and Sri Lankans benefited hugely as he won countless matches for Sri Lanka. Needless to say Muralidhran would not have even picked up 100 wickets in his career had Indian media not supported him as his career would have ended during that phase.
It is the inferiority complex of Sangakkara that is prompting him and his team members to indulge in unsporting activities. There was a time when Sri Lankans won almost everything at home and even abroad against strong teams like Australians and were second in the world only to the formidable Australia. In this regard credit should go to Arjuna Rantunga who built every teams favourite punching bags Sri Lanka to a formidable team of world beaters. Sanath Jayasuriya's heroics with the bat took the Lankan team to greater heights and under his leadership Sri Lankan scaled even greater heights which was consolidated by his successor Mahela Jaywardene. However Sri Lankan fortunes have dipped in the past 3-4 years when they left out their ageing superstar Jayasurya trusting their reserve talent which was never there and now they find themselves in a situation wherein they cannot recall Jayasurya or Vaas because of false prestige eventhough younger players have consistently let down the team badly. What is worse is the fact that Sangakkara too has let down the team very badly as the selectors discovered that he hardly has any great captaincy skills and what would be worrying their board further is the fact that there is nobody else who is capable of replacing Sangakkarahas captain. Apart from all this problems to compund matters Sri Lankan board is passing through a huge financial crisis.
While the Sri Lankan team, their board and skipper are going through a crisis, Indians have suddenly been on a overdrive during the same period and during this period Indian team earned a reputation of being the only team capable of challenging Australia. Indian team infact exceeded everybody's expectations by beating Australia at their own den on the notorious Perth wicket and to top it all took over the number one ranking in both tests and one dayers and while they could not hold on to their number one ranking in one dayers, to the surprise of many they are comfortably holding on to their number one ranking in test matches. The Indian teams batting line up these days probably the best ever in ths history of the game led by the mighty Sachin Tendulkar has muscled bowlers around the world and have shown no mercy on the mediocre Sri Lankan during the recently Test Series and the one which concluded earlier.
What is however upsetting millions of Indian fans is gratitude levels of Sri Lankan palyers. According to reports it was Dilshan who gave instructions to Randiv to bowl a no ball and if that is the case one should not forget the fact that Dilshan palys for Delhi Darvels earlier led by Sehwag and certainly Sehwag should have a had in recommending Dilshans name. Lasith Malinga bowled 5 wides to Dinesh Karthik to deny Sachin Tendulkar a century and it also must be noted that Malinga plays for Mumbai Indians led by Sachin Tendulkar. The bitter truth is Dilshan and Malinga might not have earned as much from Sri Lankan board in their entire career, the amount of money they earned from Delhi Darvels and Mumbai Indians. Apart from the money they would have earned valuable guidance from superstars Sachin and Sehwag while playing for their IPL teams and what they gave in return was denying both the superstars well deserved hundreds.
Sri Lankans should understand that losing is part of the game and no team can permanently keep on winning and remain at the top for ever. There was a time when West Indians dominated world cricket but right now they find at the bottom. Australian team dominated for a even longer while i.e. almost cllose to two decades but right now they are struggling to beat even a second string Pakistan team. Sangakkara should follow Arjuna Ranatunga's footsteps and rebuild a team from scratch to the status of world beaters.
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