The Sri Lankan cricket team’s dismal performance at this year’s Cricket World Cup raised many eyebrows. According to analysts, with just two wins in a total of nine matches in the league stage including defeats against Afghanistan and Bangladesh, it was their worst World Cup performance since 1992. Mid-tournament, Kusal Mendis took over the captaincy from Dasun Shanaka, who was ruled out of the game due to a muscle injury.
While the pitches were supposed to be in favour of the sub-continental teams, the Sri Lankan team hit a big low in the tournament. The team also created an unwanted record as they were bundled out for 55 runs against India. The collapse of Sri Lanka’s batting meant they were bowled out for their lowest World Cup total breaking the earlier one which was in 1975 against West Indies in which they scored 86 runs.
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Critiquing the team’s performance in this World Cup, former Sri Lankan cricketer Muttiah Muralitharan, in an exclusive conversation with News18 Showsha, admits that this was their ‘worst performance’. “I would say that ever since we got the World Cup qualification in 1975, this is our worst performance ever. I think it’s because of the lack of commitments. I don’t know what happened in the middle but the fact remains that they weren’t good enough,” he points out.
However, Muralitharan believes in looking at the silver lining and is hopeful that the Sri Lankan team will draw a lesson from their underwhelming stint in this tournament and rise from the ashes. “We should derive a lesson from this World Cup about where we went wrong and each player needs to improve individually. They need to work on themselves and bounce back,” he states.
The off-spinner, who’s considered to be one of the greatest bowlers in the history of cricket, also shares his thoughts on ICC’s latest decision to move the U-19 World Cup from Sri Lanka to South Africa. While ICC believes that zeroing down on South Africa is ‘a very tried and tested option’ as they hosted Women’s T20 World Cup and U-19 Women’s World Cup this year, Muralitharan thinks this call will prove to be detrimental to young Sri Lankan cricketers.
“It’s a political thing happening in Sri Lanka. The sports ministry and SLC are fighting. Between them, the sport got sandwiched. That’s the hard truth,” he says adding, “We don’t know who can solve this. There are too many unanswered questions.”
Hoping that President Ranil Wickremesinghe’s intervention will mark an end to the ‘problem’, The Sri Lankan great explains, “I hope that the President of our country will get involved in this and solve this. The sports ministry has to listen to the President and the board has to obey the laws of the country. Both the parties need to be on the same page.”
Muralitharan further adds, “We need to understand that there shouldn’t be any personal agendas involved. It’s about the future of those young prospects who want to play cricket for their country and live the life of a cricketer. Both sides need to think about these cricketers and sort out this problem amicably and bring back the glory we had before.”
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