One of cricket’s most battle-hardened operators is Steve Waugh. He may not have possessed the silken elegance of his twin brother Mark Waugh, but when it came to rolling up his sleeves and digging in, few did it better. Nicknamed the ‘Iceman’, Waugh made a career out of staring adversity in the face and refusing to blink.

His back-to-the-wall double hundred in Jamaica didn’t just win a Test, it snapped the spine of West Indies’ dominance that had stretched over decades. That was vintage Waugh: when the chips were down, he didn’t just hold the fort, he rebuilt it brick by brick.

Never one to take a backward step, Waugh once broke his nose attempting a catch off Mahela Jayawardene at Asgiriya. Surgeons advised him to sit out the Colombo Test and let the wounds heal. But for Waugh, the thought of Australia conceding a series was a bridge too far. He took the field against medical advice, a call that summed up his appetite for the fight.

He was no less formidable as a leader. The way he handled a young, wayward Ricky Ponting, then prone to off-field scrapes, has passed into cricketing folklore. Waugh didn’t just build a team; he forged a culture. His book ‘Out of My Comfort Zone’ remains a manual on how elite sportsmen must push the envelope if they are to stay ahead of the curve.

It is perhaps a book that should find its way into a few Sri Lankan kit bags. Too many current players appear content to play within themselves, happy to nudge and nurdle rather than step out of the crease and take the game on. At the highest level, though, comfort zones are quicksand. If you stand still for too long you will sink.

Champion leg-spinner Wanindu Hasaranga now finds himself under the scanner, his recurring hamstring injury becoming a stubborn thorn in both his side and Sri Lanka’s ambitions. Earlier this year, the injury ruled him out of the World Cup, with an initial recovery timeline of six weeks, enough, on paper, to make the IPL.

But cricket, as ever, had a twist in the tale.

In the aftermath of the World Cup, Sri Lanka Cricket took stock. While the team did reasonably well to reach the second round, there was a lingering sense of a chance missed, especially at a home World Cup where a semi-final berth was there for the taking. The consensus in cricketing corridors was simple: with a full-strength bowling attack, Sri Lanka could have gone deeper.

Determined not to leave things to chance again, the board drew a line in the sand, no fitness, no NOC. Players were required to clear stringent fitness tests to secure No Objection Certificates for franchise leagues, including the IPL. Hasaranga, along with a few others, found the bar a stiff one to clear.

Unlike Nuwan Thushara, whose case has taken a legal turn, Hasaranga’s issue is less about agility and more about durability. On the field, he is as sharp as they come, electric in the deep, capable of pulling off screamers and hitting the stumps on the fly. But the body, it seems, has not kept pace with the skill.

Fresh off injury, pushing too hard carries the risk of another breakdown. As a result, Hasaranga has opted out of fitness tests, leaving him without an NOC and consequently, out of the IPL with Lucknow Super Giants. Head Coach Tom Moody has already indicated that the franchise is scouting for a replacement, a clear sign that the wheels of professional cricket wait for no one.

The immediate loss is financial, a tidy USD 220,000, roughly LKR 70 million. But in the grand scheme, that’s loose change compared to what’s at stake. Not long ago, Royal Challengers Bangalore splashed over USD 1 million on him and he repaid the faith by finishing as their leading wicket-taker in 2022.

Since then, however, his stock has dipped. Not for lack of skill, Hasaranga still has the ability to turn games on their head, but because franchises are increasingly wary of whether he can last the distance over a full season. In franchise cricket, availability is often the best ability and Hasaranga’s repeated breakdowns have raised a few eyebrows.

The message, then, is clear. Hasaranga needs to take a leaf out of Waugh’s book. Step out of the comfort zone. Tighten the screws on fitness. Watch the weight. Treat the body like the temple that houses his talent.

No one is asking him to morph into Virat Kohli, hitting the gym at dawn and steering clear of butter chicken avoiding it like a plague. But at the very least, the basics must be ticked off. At this level, you don’t just play the game, you prepare for it, day in, day out.

There’s also a bigger storm brewing. Missing the IPL without an NOC could open the door to a potential two-year ban, a prospect that would be a bitter pill to swallow for the player.

For Hasaranga, this must be a line-in-the-sand moment. Because in international cricket, as Waugh showed time and again, you either get out of your comfort zone or the game moves on without you.

by Rex Clementine