Sports
When sport clean-bowls politics
by Rex Clementine
With Chennai Super Kings storming into this year’s IPL final, two Sri Lankans have become the toast of the south Indian city of Madras as Matheesha Pathirana and Maheesh Theekshana claimed two wickets apiece against Gujarat Titans.
Time was when Sri Lankans were personae non grata in the south Indian state of Tamil Nadu. Not anymore. From Madras to Madurai, everyone is now cheering the two Sri Lankan boys. Sport has delivered a telling blow to divisive politics!
In 2013, after Tamil Nadu Chief Minister Jayalalitha Jayaram protested to the central government against Sri Lankan players’ participation in IPL matches held in Madras, the Board of Control for Cricket in India was forced to withdraw Sri Lankans from Madras games.
Accordingly, the then nine franchises were told not to play any Sri Lankan in Madras. Stars like Muttiah Muralitharan, Kumar Sangakkara, Mahela Jayawardene, T.M. Dilshan, Angelo Mathews, Lasith Malinga and Ajantha Mendis and several others had to pull out from Madras games.
Sadly, the ban applied not only to players but also to the Sri Lankan match officials.
Sri Lanka played their first Test match on Indian soil in cricket-crazy Madras in 1982, the famous game, where Duleep Mendis scored twin hundreds.
Thereafter, every time Sri Lanka visited India, a game in Madras was a must. There were many memorable games over the years in Madras, but after 2005, Sri Lanka have not played a single game there.
However, a 20-year-old rookie, Matheesha, has changed it all and the fans of southern Indian state have embraced him like one of their own.
Maheesh Theekshana too has come up with several match winning performances and the fact that he has an army background has been forgotten.
These indeed are welcome signs. This means that there are chances of the Sri Lanka team returning to M. A. Chidambaram Stadium also known as Chepauk after 18 long years later this year when India hosts the World Cup.
Chepauk is an iconic cricket ground having hosted Test match cricket for 90 years and was the venue for the tied Test of 1986 between India and Australia.
A Sri Lankan innings that never really got going eventually parked itself at middling total of 219, as they were bowled out in 49.3 overs in the second ODI in Colombo. It’s a total England will fancy themselves to chase down as they look to level this three-match series.
Sri Lanka’s innings was headlined by Charith Asalanka’s 45 off 64 and Dhananjaya de Silva’s 40 off 59, but at strike rates of 67.79 and 70.31 it tells you all you need to know about how well England kept a lid on the innings.
For the visitors the wickets were spread out, with Adil Rashid, Jamie Overton and Joe Root picking up two apiece, the latter with the final two balls of the innings. There were also wickets for Liam Dawson, Rehan Ahmed and the returning Will Jacks.
And much like in the first ODI, England’s varied attack – no less than eight options were used across the innings – sought to give little away. “Keeping the stumps in play,” was Harry Brook’s refrain, speaking after losing the toss, and on an uber-dry surface with boundaries square and behind mostly protected, the onus was on the Lankan batters to use their feet in order to access the boundaries at extra cover and deep midwicket.
That sort of strokeplay however proved detrimental to the Lankan cause with four of their top five falling in their attempts to access the boundaries in front of square. Kamil Mishara sought to bring some impetus to the innings after a miserly early burst from the England seamers, but his attempted lashing cover drive could not clear Ben Duckett in the circle, who held on at the second attempt.
Pathum Nissanka, who had patiently waded through the opening powerplay when the scoring rate sat below four an over, then sought to capitalise on his added time in the middle, but only managed to loft an inside-out drive to long-off.
Later on in the innings Dhananjaya whacked one low to Root at midwicket, before the set Asalanka found deep midwicket with a slog sweep.
And arguably Sri Lanka’s best batter at accessing those regions, Kusal Mendis, ran himself out for a ground-out 26, when he cut one straight to point and absentmindedly set off for the single. The throw from the fit-again Jacks was pinpoint and found Mendis easily short as he sought in vain to fling himself back to safety.
There were promising stands between, notably a 42-run effort between Nissanka and Mendis and 66 between Dhananjaya and Asalanka, but none of the batters involved were able to push on and up the rate of scoring over any concerted period of time.
Pavan Rathnayake’s 29 off 34 had also shown promise, but he fell foul looking to clear the straight boundary as he sliced one to long-off, and in the process silenced an energetic Khettarama crowd.
The frustrating nature of Sri Lanka’s innings was illustrated by the fact that five batters scored at least 25 and faced at least 30 deliveries, but the highest score remained Asalanka’s 45.
England, to their credit, stuck to and executed their plans well. The use of eight bowlers – six of them spinners – meant Sri Lanka’s batters were ever really able to get a measure of any one bowler. And while the lengths were consistent, the pace of the deliveries was varied. It meant that even when a set batter such as Nissanka sought to take on the attack, Rashid was able to successfully deceive him in the flight.
Dunith Wellalage once more looked enterprising during a late cameo, but despite finding two boundaries in his brief stay, his 20 off 19 was far less damaging to England’s cause than had been in the first ODI.
England bowled 40.3 overs of spin across their innings, breaking their previous record of 36. That came in Sharjah in 1984-85, when Norman Gifford captained England at the age of 44, and took four wickets. The team wore black armbands during the first ODI after his death last week.
Brief scores:
Sri Lanka 219 in 49.3 overs (Charith Asalanka 45, Dhananjaya De Silva 40; Joe Root 2-12, Jamie Overton 2-21, Adil Rashid 2-34) vs England
(Cricinfo)
(Cricbuzz)
Sri Lanka elected to bat first in the second ODI against England at the R Premadasa International Stadium
Sri Lanka: Pathum Nissanka, Kamil Mishara, Kusal Mendis (wk), Dhananjaya de Silva, Charith Asalanka, Janith Liyanage, Pavan Rathnayake, Dunith Wellalage, Pramod Madushan, Jeffrey Vandersay, Asitha Fernando
England: Rehan Ahmed, Ben Duckett, Joe Root, 4Jacob Bethell, Harry Brook (capt), Jos Buttler (wk), Will Jacks, Sam Curran, Jamie Overton, Liam Dawson, Adil Rashid
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