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by Rex Clementine

The curtain-raiser of cricket’s showpiece event gets underway today in Ahmedabad, a venue where Michael Tissera helped Ceylon record a four wicket win over an Indian side captained by Tiger Pataudi in 1965 in an unofficial Test match. More than half a century later, Sri Lanka are yet to win a Test match in India. We have much to learn from Tissera’s leadership qualities. As a captain, he took risks and treated everyone equal. Many years later as Chairman of Selectors, he was broad-minded.

If not for Tissera, Aravinda de Silva would have never played the 2003 World Cup. Tissera’s predecessors had given Aravinda the cold shoulder and he was out of the equation.

When Tissera began his stint as Chief Selector, he simply called Aravinda and said a place in the World Cup team is up for grabs provided he got fitter and leaner. In some six weeks, Aravinda lost 12 kilos. The rest they say is history. Those flicked sixes off Brett Lee, the fastest bowler in the world, at Centurion are etched in our memories forever.

Twenty years later we wish that we had men of Tissera’s wisdom, who challenged players, but did not sideline them totally.

Half a dozen seniors were kicked out from the white ball team as the selectors embarked on an aggressive youth policy two years ago. While that policy has enabled us to identify young players like Chairth Asalanka and Pathum Nissanka, the ideal mixture for an event like the World Cup is a mixture of youth and experience.

How often have we seen that the Sri Lankan team not being able to bat out the 50 overs. Even after a fine knock by Kusal Menids Tuesday night, the team still failed to bat out the 50 overs. You are not going to compete in a place like India where you will get flat decks unless you post in excess of 300 batting first.

The issue the team is faced with is that we do not have any finishers capable of clearing the boundary towards the tail end of the innings. Captain Dasun Shanaka’s extended bad patch is continuing and you suspect that his limitations as an ODI cricketer have been well and truly exposed.

We have addressed some of the issues by bringing in Test captain Dimuth Karunaratne to bat through the innings and if he performs his role, then Sri Lanka will last 50 overs. But since of late, it seems his priorities have changed and he’s trying to keep pace with the strike rate.

As for the finishing, we need to ask the question whether letting go Thisara Perera was a wise decision. Players like Thisara are a rare find and when they come along you need to nurture them. True, Thisara had a few issues including troubles with fitness but there were ways to get the best out of him rather than simply ignoring him. Michael Tissera would have perhaps given us a few tips on how to handle someone like Thisara.

Angelo Mathews is another player who should have been in the World Cup squad given his experience and match winning abilities. But a continuous winning streak during the World Cup Qualifiers and a slot in the finals of the Asia Cup made some to believe everything was heading in the right direction.

On wickets that assists spin, Sri Lanka look quite formidable, but on flat decks, their deficiencies have been exposed, badly.

Having said that, now that a squad has been picked, as a nation we need to back them. One thing is for sure. This is a far better squad than what they selected for the last World Cup in 2019. Jeevan Mendis making a guest appearance having not played an ODI in more than four years and Jeffrey Vandersay coming in out of the blues having not played an ODI for more than two years were atrocious. Mind you they were picked for English conditions. This time around, we didn’t have those dramas.