On March 29, Australia’s Batting Great Steve Smith, after being banned for a year following his involvement in the ball tampering scandal, called for a Press Conference to offer unconditional apology for his shameful act. In front of media, and of those millions of Cricket fans who were watching him, he broke down and started weeping and crying. He was devastated for his wrongdoing and honestly accepted in front of entire World that ‘he would regret this for rest of his life.’
After his tearful apology, many of his Australian fellow players came to his support and requested a softened stance from Cricket Australia. However, Smith refused any kind of forgiveness and as a true sportsman accepted the penalty for his unethical act in Cape Town test. At that time, Smith was world’s best test batsman, carrying a Bradman like average of 61. Few days later, his deputy David Warner and Cameron Bancroft also accepted their involvement.
On July 11, Sri Lanka’s Dinesh Chandimal met Chandika Hathurusingha and Asanka Gurusinha in Galle before the start of the first test against South Africa. All they were not a part of the team, as they were banned by International Cricket Council (ICC) for bringing disrepute to the game. However, unlike Smith or Warner, they didn’t call for a press conference. They didn’t offer apology to their fans, to their country. Instead, they all were smiling and gave a perfect pose to photographers!
It turned out a great, memorable photo. But, it painted a wrong perception about Sri Lanka Cricket’s Image!
Why, why Chandimal, Gurusinha and Hathurusingha didn’t feel like Steve Smith or David Warner?
As we all know, Chandimal plays his cricket with passion, has been a true ambassador for his country all these years. Few years ago, he won Millions of hearts by rejecting IPL offer to focus on the test format. At that time, he made it clear that his country is more important for him. So, why that same Chandimal didn’t regret about his shameful act in the second test against West Indies?
Chandika Hathurusingha is not a ‘newbie’ for World Cricket. As a player, he was rather unfortunate. He could have been a great player for Sri Lanka, but internal politics and presence of great players in the national team at that time prevented him by making a statement at international level. As a Coach, though, he has achieved some significant things. People believes that he was the mastermind behind Bangladesh emergence as a Cricket playing nation. Now, he has been considered as one of the top most coach in world Cricket. Surprisingly, he also didn’t realize that he has committed a mistake!
Asanka Gurusinha played in a world Cup winning Team. He was there, when Australia conspired against Muttiah Muralitharan. They protested, fought in the inspirational leadership of Arjuna Ranatunga. But, they didn’t bring disrepute to the game. Sadly, Gurusinha also didn’t realize his fault!
We are saying they didn’t realize, because, till date, no one has spoken about the incident. No one has called a Pres conference or no one issued an apology, we all were anticipating, especially after witnessing Smith and Co apology!
Instead, they gave a perfect pose to the photographers. Indeed, it turned out a great, memorable photo!
