Well-done Jayasuriya for your self-inflicted destruction

By Lankaputhra

(May 16, Colombo, Sri Lanka Guardian) Sanjay Manjrekar, analyzing the Sri Lanka's defeat against England in the T20 world cup semi-finals, commented that performance of Sri Lanka team was below par and the obvious reason being Jayasuriya at the top and failing. He said Sri Lanka would realize that persisting with Jayasuriya at the top was a mistake.

Yet, who knows cricket better than Rajapakse. He is the person who ordered return of Jayasuriya to the National team when he was dropped after his repeated failure. However, the President’s shallow decision forced the entire nation to pay heavily. Persisting with failed Jayasuriya not only denied the cricket loving public the only joy the game of cricket brought to them but it also inflicted a heavy damage to the confidence of the entire team.

No body in the team wants Jayasuriya there, as he was a heavy burden to the team. The body language of the Captain and the rest of the team summed everything up. Beyond doubt, he is an old horse of no use. How come a man who was dumped by the Mumbai Indian, the team he represented in the IPL, becomes good for the national team of Sri Lanka? Allowing Jayasuriya to play was a big blunder, as all other nations except Sri Lanka took the tournament very seriously and played their best 11 players. As a result of poor decision making, at the end Sri Lanka cricket suffered heavily and lost every plausible chance the national team had to reach to the finals. In fact, under the cirucumstances, Sri Lanka was lucky to reach semifinals with only 10 players and it was a pity that Jayasuriya was allowed to rob everything singlehandedly.

His utterly selfish conduct, lacking national interest, ruined the balance and moral in the team and finally it boiled down to a stage where cricket lowers wished him get out with the first ball he faces without wasting the valuable fist six overs with field restrictions in place. People felt sorry about Sangakkara who was made a scapegoat by the selectors who simply dance according the Rajapakse’s tune. He was utterly helpless. No matter what, he had to persist with Jayasuriya. People cannot reckon this kind of jokes occurring in any other nation except Sri Lanka where democracy is nothing more than a farce.

Now greedy Jayasuriya has achieved his burning desire, however, at an enormous cost and his popularity is now at rock bottom. He scored only paltry 15 runs during the entire six innings he played denying a chance to a young upcoming player. When Tendulkar, who was younger to Jayasuriya and the best batsman of just concluded IPL he simply refused and said that his time in the national team was over and he did not wish to hinder the younger players of their chance to play for the national team.

Having inflicted the maximum damage to Sri Lankan Cricket, Jayasuriya can now conveniently join hands with his ‘political team’ to rob the rest of the country. The irony is that the very game of cricket that lend a hand to this man to reach the pinnacle in his career has turn on him for his downfall, not for anything else but for his utterly self-centered attitude.