When combinations click or fail

Friday 26th March, 2021

Fond memories of Sri Lanka’s cricket World Cup victory (1996) have not faded even after a quarter century. Who can forget the day when the entire country came to a standstill with everyone being glued to the television, cheering for the boys led by Arjuna, taking on the mighty Kangaroos, thousands of kilometres away? Former cricketing greats who brought home the much-coveted cup have been in the news again during the last few weeks. A reference in one of the columns we publish today to the country’s historic world cup victory made us wonder how our cricketers had achieved that seemingly impossible task vis-a-vis the prowess of the Kangaroos in full form at the time.

What really made the 1996 Kangaroo hunt at the Gaddafi Stadium, Lahore, a stunning success was a rare combination of Sri Lankan talents. It was the whole that worked, and not parts thereof; had anyone been removed from that formidable squad, Sri Lanka may not have been able to excel in the tough tournament much less clinch the cup. This may be the reason why the Sri Lankan Legends did not succeed, the other day, in India. If Arjuna, Aravinda, Kalu, Vaas, Gura and others had chosen to play in the Legends final, Sri Lanka would perhaps have had its 1996 moment.

It is not only in cricket that combinations click; in war, too, they do. Sri Lanka’s war-winning combination is a case in point. Prabhakaran would still have been reigning supreme in the jungles of the Vanni, and the western powers would not have made an issue of ‘war crimes’ but for the combination that clicked in Colombo, putting an end to the war; what, in fact, led to success was a fine blend of political leadership, strategic thinking, military leadership, commitment and the single-minded pursuit of victory, at every level of the government and the military. Therefore, the credit for the country’s successful war that put an end to massacres, child abductions, extortion, political assassinations, bombing of civilian targets and other such crimes, should go to the political and military leaders involved in the war effort, besides the police, the Civil Defence Force and Citizen Perera, who absorbed all economic shocks without grumbling. Perhaps, the country would have benefited from the dividends of peace much more if the aforesaid combination had not disintegrated following the conclusion of the war owing to personal rivalries, personality clashes, selfishness, greed for power and competing ambitions, which came to plague the wining camp, which fell apart, enabling their enemies to regroup.

Some combinations can be disastrous although they may seem to work initially, as we saw under the yahapalana government (2015-2019). The President and the Prime Minister were at each other’s jugular, pitting the legislature against the executive. The state intelligence agencies were at war with one another. No wonder the Easter Sunday attacks happened. Had Prabhakaran succeeded in making good his escape with foreign help, in 2009, he would have been able to stage a comeback easily during the 2015-2019 period, the way he had done previously. Thankfully, the yahapalana combination came to an end.

Winning combinations do not come about accidentally; they have to be worked out with dedication, sacrifices, team work and proper leadership. When the 2019 regime change happened, it was widely thought that a winning combination had emerged, but sadly that did not turn out to be the case. Most ruling party notables have apparently taken leave of their senses. Some of them are openly supportive of the destroyers of forests and other ecological hotspots; others are busy putting crooked deals through and lining their pockets. One of them, in his wisdom, is busy promoting ‘cinnamon fags’ and has drawn heavy flak from medical experts, who insist that smoking in any form is injurious to health. Perhaps, what has stood in the way of the country being blessed with another winning combination is the arrogance of power. One can only keep one’s fingers crossed.