Dimuth on pains of not playing sport

by Rex Clementine

Sri Lanka skipper Dimuth Karunaratne has spoken of the mental struggles of not playing international sport for more than six months now. Dimuth was drawing up plans with Head Coach Mickey Arthur for the two match Test series against England when the tourists were forced to return home less than a week to go for the opening Test match with the pandemic creating havoc in the UK. Since then, five series have been postponed while Bangladesh’s visit to the island is one the fence and Sri Lanka might not tour South Africa later this year.

“These are tough times for all of us. We are from morning to night focused on the game all the time. You can stay away from cricket for a month or so but not more than that. This has been tough. I feel as if that I have lost a large portion of my career,” the 32-year-old told The Island.

“Fortunately we have started training and that’s some relief. We are still wondering when we will play a series. Mentally it’s been really tough. Most cricketers are professionals and you can imagine what happens when you do not engage in your profession. I am not talking about money. SLC has taken good care of us as we are contracted. But it’s stressful that you don’t compete at the highest level. Some players are wondering whether we will play any cricket at all this year and there are some of them who want to give up the game and focus on something else.”

“As a country, we have done really well to combat the pandemic. But some of the other cricket playing nations are not so fortunate and you never know when we will tour again.”

“These are best years of my career. I have matured and I feel I am reaching my peak. Then this happened. As a team, we were shaping up well after the World Cup. Personally, I was getting into a groove in ODIs and now I have to start all over again. We have not played for so long and I have forgotten some of the laws dealing with one-day cricket.”

“I am hopeful that whatever the series that has been postponed will be played. SLC is doing well to reschedule them. We have to be patient as we have to follow health guidelines in a bid to resume cricket. Hopefully, will play soon.”