CricDigs Blogs

Victory can do funny things so also can defeat. It can decide resignation timings. For instance, it hastened Mahela Jayawardane’s decision to resign suddenly. He was contemplating resignation and even retirement but was not sure of the timing. The current loss to India served one positive purpose at least. Defeat also creates confusion. Dilshan the stand-in captain for the T20I was of the view that they lost the match because of the absence of the five key players: Mahela Jayawardene, Kumar Sangakkara, Muttiah Muralitharan, Ajantha Mendis and Farveez Maharoof. But the selectors had rested them for each one of them looked like someone who has lost his keys.

Defeat made the Sri Lankan players look like a high school outfit pitted against a strong college team. Ajantha Mendis was sorted out before the series began. Our batsmen read him like you read the advertisement on the huge billboards. When the Pathans burnt it up they could only hold their hands up in abject surrender.

The Lankan defeat affected the home crowd as well. They showed their talents by throwing objects into the field. The selectors on their part threw a fit at the sloppy fielding. Finding the scapegoats is a common thing after defeat. Arjuna Ranatunga found a few among the people running cricket in Sri Lanka. Interestingly Ranatunga was sacked as the Chairman of the selection committee in December. The Lankan defeat provided him the opportunity to hit verbal boundaries against the officials.

Winning was good for Indian players and viewers. The clueless Sri Lankan players made it fun.