Sports

When ‘siri’ means failure?

Published

5 years ago

2021/04/8

Sahan Weerasooriya

Cricket and national security:

by Rex Clementine

Such was the popularity of Dayasiri Jayasekara when he was named Chief Ministerial candidate of Wayamba a few years ago, there were posters that read, ‘Wayambata siri, Dayasiri’. The popular politician has a history of shooting from the hip, and some of his supporters have changed the slogan to ‘Ammatasiri Dayasiri.’

A lawyer by profession, during his interactions with the media as Sports Minister, he appeared to be quite knowledgeable, broadminded and fair. More than anything, he has not lost the common touch so much so that some old-timers in the media thought he had a brighter future.

However, it needs to be added Dayasiri has to mend his ways in some respects. He has earned notoriety for changing sides in politics. He entered politics from the SLFP and then crossed over to the UNP. He again pole-vaulted to the SLFP.

Now, Dayasiri is taking on religious leaders. Earlier this week, he lashed out at Malcolm Cardinal Ranjith for criticizing Maithriapala Sirisena, who , as the President in 2019, failed to prevent the Easter Sunday carnage despite several early warnings of the terror strikes.

Cardinal Ranjith is one of the most respected religious figures in the Catholic Church and according to Vatican observers, he will be one of the Papabile in an upcoming conclave. The prelate has spoken for his flock. Serious lapses on the part of the ‘yahapalana’ government caused more than 250 Catholics to be killed; people are scared of going to church as a result.

Men stay out as guards near Catholic churches while women and children are praying. That has been the case all around the country although the presence of armed forces during the Holy Week was a massive relief. This situation has come about thanks to Dayasiri’s political boss, Sirisena’s failure to safeguard national security.

As Sports Minister Dayasiri Jayasekara started with so much promise, having identified all the right things that needed to be done. But he gave in to political pressure, and his term turned out to be a disaster. When Dayasiri took over, there was an Interim Committee in place running cricket. Sidath Wettimuny was presiding over the affairs of SLC, having been put in there for one purpose—introducing a new constitution for SLC. Dayasiri called for cricket elections. Guess who benefited? His SLFP colleague, Thilanga Sumathipala, who returned as President of SLC after a lapse of more than ten years.

It is not only ‘siri’ in their names that Sirisena and Dayasiri have in common; both are known for their failure to deliver. Sirisena failed as the President and Dayasiri as the Sports Minister. Failures seem to have become the pillars of the SLFP!

Dayasiri’s interference in the game of cricket was too much. In 2017, he recalled Sri Lanka’s ODI cricketers back in the middle of the night after they had enplaned to travel to India. Sri Lanka’s legendary cricketers being asked to get off the plane and return home made international headlines. Whom did Dayasiri try to please by making such drastic actions? Was he taking any sides after SLC’s Executive Committee and National Selection Panel ended up on a collision course over some selections?

Some players did not mince their words when they took on Dayasiri. Lasith Malinga was one of them.

The performance of the national cricket team during Dayasiri’s tenure was horrendous. Sri Lanka lost a first-ever Test match to Bangladesh and were whitewashed 5-0 by India and Pakistan. Into the bargain, the national cricket team also suffered a home ODI series defeat to Zimbabwe, a defeat that has been probed by the ICC. It should be also mentioned that when Dayasiri was the Sports Minster, the cricket board gave away funds to construct a state-of-the-art cricket facility in his electorate at the expense of many deserving schools.

Dayasiri should stop trying to defend the indefensible and cutting a pathetic figure in the process. Sirisena will never be able to absolve himself of the sin of having failed to prevent the terror strikes. Dayasiri and his equally failed boss will not be able to get anywhere by taking on the upright religious leaders who are on the side of the truth and are fighting for the people’s right to life.

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Daren Sammy issues plea as West Indies remain stuck in Kolkata hotel

Published

2 hours ago

2026/03/5

Priyan

The Dubai airport, among other airports in the Gulf region, were affected by the crisis in West Asia [Cricinfo]

As West Indies continue to remain stuck in Kolkata four days after being eliminated from the 2026 T20 World Cup, their head coach Daren Sammy has put out a post on X, saying “I just wanna go home”.

He followed it up with another post a little later, saying, “At least an update, tell us something. Today, tmw, next week. It’s been five days.”

West Indies are one of the teams stranded in India in the wake of the crisis in West Asia. ESPNcricinfo has learned that initially, the ICC had informed West Indies that attempts were being made for the squad to return home to the Caribbean via a charter flight to London. The plan, it is believed, was for West Indies to fly out of India mid-week, though no specific date was given. However, West Indies continue to remain in Kolkata where they lost to India in the final match of the Super Eight on March 1.

With the usual airspace corridors closed owing to the crisis, which began last weekend, the ICC has been confronted with a severe logistical challenge of arranging return flights for teams.

On Wednesday, though, there was good news for Zimbabwe, with the first batch of their squad members leaving for home from Delhi after the ICC reworked their travel arrangements.

Like West Indies, Zimbabwe played their last match at the T20 World Cup on March 1, losing to South Africa in Delhi. Zimbabwe were originally scheduled to depart on March 2, but that plan was cancelled.

There is no official word on the travel plans for the rest of their squad members.

“Zimbabwe Cricket confirms that the Zimbabwe senior men’s team participating in the ICC Men’s T20 World Cup 2026 are on their way home from India after the International Cricket Council secured alternative travel arrangements following recent transit disruptions,” Zimbabwe Cricket said in a statement on Wednesday. “Due to flight availability and revised routing, the squad will return to Harare in batches.

“Zimbabwe’s original travel route was via Dubai on an Emirates flight but it had to be altered. It has been learnt that Zimbabwe are now travelling to Harare via Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.”

South Africa were eliminated in the semi-final by New Zealand on Wednesday night, and will now wait to know their schedule for getting back home. In case England lose to India in the second semi-final on Thursday, their travel plans back will also have to be worked out.

[Cricinfo]

Latest News

India’s momentum meets Wankhede’s memory in big semifinal bout

Published

4 hours ago

2026/03/5

Priyan

India have a bunch of players who call the Wankhede Stadium 'home' during domestic cricket or the IPL [Cricbuzz]

A World Cup semifinal at the Wankhede Stadium has, historically, not been kind on India, the 2023 game against New Zealand aside. They’ve lost two of their three ICC knockout games at this venue, one of them to England in 1987, the very opponents awaiting them tonight. If there is any equilibrium to be found, it lies in the present: Harry Brook’s England have appeared just as fragile in this tournament as Suryakumar Yadav’s India, making this less a clash of invincibles and more a test of which side can steady itself under the heaviest lights.

India have leaned heavily on individual brilliance rather than collective cohesion to reach the last-four stage. Skipper Suryakumar Yadav (vs USA), Ishan Kishan (vs Namibia and Pakistan), Shivam Dube (vs Netherlands and South Africa), the Abhishek Sharma-Hardik Pandya combine (vs Zimbabwe), and most recently Sanju Samson (vs West Indies) have each stepped in to rescue the side at different moments. As a unit, however, India have not quite lived up to their ‘favourites’ tag.

India’s struggles have largely been down to some key players blowing hot and cold – Abhishek Sharma with the bat and Varun Chakaravarthy with the ball. Even skipper Suryakumar, barring the opening game, has not delivered in the manner expected of him. More gallingly, fielding – particularly catching – has been awful.

Jasprit Bumrah’s mastery has often come to India’s aid when the situations were seemingly slipping away. At times, Arshdeep Singh with his wide yorkers and Hardik Pandya with his slower bouncers have delivered in crunch moments, but their effectiveness with the ball has been rather sporadic. India will be hoping for a more collective output – shared heroics rather than individual brilliance – to administer the coup de grace against England and book the March 8 date at the Narendra Modi Stadium in Ahmedabad.

“That is something we haven’t really spoken about, about the perfect game. I think the quality of this team has been shown that, on the day somebody can put their hand up and put up a performance. And then hopefully now in the last two games, especially now tomorrow night, we can put that special performance in,” Morne Morkel, India bowling coach, said on the eve of the match.

“Unfortunately we all know how the game goes, that success is never guaranteed. But if we can give ourselves the best chance to go out and perform. That is what we strive for. And a big occasion tomorrow night here, semifinal, a great stadium to play a great game of cricket. So hopefully the boys can rock up tomorrow and just be calm and execute those skills.”

Thursday’s face-off may be India’s first designated knockout match for them, but they have already overcome two knockouts situations – against Zimbabwe and West Indies in the Super Eights. On both occasions, they raised the bar, momentum they’ll hope to carry into this high-stakes contest.

Another advantage for the hosts is their familiarity with the Wankhede Stadium, which serves as a home ground for several Indian players, starting with Suryakumar himself. Hardik Pandya, Jasprit Bumrah, Shivam Dube and Ishan Kishan have all represented Mumbai, Mumbai Indians, or both here.

If India have struggled into semifinals, England have been no showstoppers, although Harry Brook oozed extreme confidence on the eve of the contest. “We don’t feel like we’re ever out of a game so far. All it takes is one of the top seven to get a decent score or one of our five or six bowlers to have an amazing day out there. And all of a sudden you’re walking away with a victory and that’s what we’ve done so well so far,” the England skipper said.

England needed an extraordinary century from the skipper himself to get over the line against Pakistan and were on the ropes against New Zealand before being bailed out by a superb cameo from Rehan Ahmed. They won a low-scoring thriller against Sri Lanka and were nearly upset by Nepal before West Indies humbled them here in Mumbai, incidentally on the same pitch that will be used today.

The pitch carries a tinge of grass, but Morne Morkel anticipates a high-scoring contest. It was against this very opposition, at this very venue, that Abhishek Sharma blazed a stunning century a year ago. India will hope for a similar explosion from their opener, although this World Cup has already reinforced a familiar truth – ICC tournament games are a different beast altogether from bilateral contests.

Having comfortably beaten West Indies in their last outing, India are unlikely to tinker with their XI, despite murmurs advocating for Rinku Singh to replace Abhishek Sharma

England drafted in an extra spinner in Rehan Ahmed last time and he repaid the call with a decisive all-round performance against New Zealand last Friday. But that was at the R Premadasa Stadium, a surface that offered significant grip and turn. Conditions this time are unlikely to demand a second leg spinner, especially against a batting line-up stacked with left-handers.

England already possess three contrasting spin options – a leg spinner in Adil Rashid, a left-arm orthodox bowler in Liam Dawson, and an offspinner in Will Jacks, the latter particularly handy against an out-of-form Abhishek Sharma at the top and as a tactical match-up option through the line-up. All of which is set to open the door for the return of Jamie Overton.

India Probable XI: Abhishek Sharma, Sanju Samson (wk), Ishan Kishan, Suryakumar Yadav (c), Tilak Varma, Hardik Pandya, Shivam Dube, Axar Patel, Jasprit Bumrah, Arshdeep Singh, Varun Chakaravarthy

England Probable XI:Phil Salt, Jos Buttler (wk), Harry Brook (c), Jacob Bethell, Tom Banton, Sam Curran, Will Jacks, Jamie Overton, Liam Dawson, Jofra Archer, Adil Rashid

[Cricbuzz]

Sports

Wankhede braced for India–England semi-final blockbuster

Published

13 hours ago

2026/03/5

Sahan Weerasooriya

Wankhede that hosted the 2011 World Cup final between Sri Lanka and India will host this evening’s T20 World Cup semi-final between India and England.

The second T20 World Cup semi-final gets underway at the iconic Wankhede Stadium today (Thursday) with England and India locking horns for a place in the final. Both sides are two-time champions and boast well-balanced outfits, setting the stage for a contest where there is little to separate.

India in particular have had to roll up their sleeves and graft their way through the Super Eight stage. Having stumbled in their opener against South Africa, they were forced into two must win encounters inside a week and came through with flying colours. Those victories have hardened their resolve and ensured the defending champions arrive at the business end battle ready.

England, meanwhile, began the tournament on shaky ground. They were given a scare by Nepal and later tasted defeat against West Indies, leaving them with little room for error. But like seasoned campaigners, the Englishmen have steadied the ship and found their rhythm when it matters most.

One of England’s biggest strengths has been their ability to play spin with confidence in recent months. Their bowling attack too has evolved. No longer overly reliant on pace and swing, England have shown the nous to mix things up, calling on a variety of spin options when conditions demand it.

There is, however, one blot on their scorecard. In the last five games, their opener Jos Buttler has struggled for runs, repeatedly departing for single digit scores. But his glovework behind the stumps has been impeccable and with several of England’s batters firing on all cylinders, they can afford to carry one misfiring gun in the line-up.

Still nursing the wounds of a painful Ashes defeat, reaching the World Cup final would go a long way in restoring pride in the England camp and perhaps even saving a few careers that are currently on the line.

India, meanwhile, carry the weight of expectation that only cricket in this country can generate. As defending champions, they have the backing of a cricket mad nation and Wankhede will be a cauldron of noise when the two sides take the field.

For Sri Lankan fans, the venue also stirs bittersweet memories. It was here at Wankhede that Sri Lanka’s dreams were shattered in the 2011 World Cup final, when India lifted the trophy.

One concern for India ahead of the big clash will be their catching. They have been sloppy in the field, grassing several chances and recording a worrying catching percentage. Their overall strength has masked those lapses so far, but dropped catches at this stage of the tournament can come back to haunt even the strongest of sides.

Earlier, South Africa and New Zealand were set to square off in the first semi-final in Calcutta on Wednesday. The winners will head to Ahmedabad where they will await the victors of the Bombay clash for Sunday’s grand finale.

Rex Clementine in Bombay