Few days ago Country’s greatest ever batsman Kumar Sangakkara, while highlighting the reason of the sorry status of Sri Lanka Cricket, expressed a thoughtful View.
“When Sri Lanka Cricket fans won’t be able to recognize Sports Minister, that day the cricket in the country will start to flourish again” the Legendary batsman said while referring the political influence in the game.
However, as it has now become a norm with Sri Lanka Cricket, there was no value of Sanagakara’s Views.
And it proved again on the fourth day of second test between Sri Lanka and South Africa at Sinhalese Sports Club. South Africa surrendered the match once again on the fourth day itself, and Sri Lanka handsomely won the series 2-0.
Faizer Mustapha, Sri Lanka’s newly ‘high-profile’ Sports Minister, was there (With his competent authority, who is currently supervising SLC) and handed over the winning trophy to home captain Suranga Lakmal.
At the same time, few kilometers away, Sanath Jayasuriya, greatest ODI Allrounder in World Cricket history, was giving away trophies in a soft ball tournament!
“This shows the true picture of Sri Lanka Cricket. One of the greatest player was giving away soft ball awards and a person, who knows nothing about Cricket, was giving away real trophies” a former player told Cricket Age.
Right after replacing Dayasiri Jayasekara as Sports Minister, Faizer Mustapha stated that he doesn’t know anything about Cricket. Still, since last two months, he has been overseeing the SLC and has become the ‘Messiah’ of the game!
Though, this won’t surprise many in Sri Lanka! Since last few years, former players were continuesly ignored by SLC. Legendary trio – Kumar Sangakkara, Mahela Jayawardene and Muttiah Muralitharan – have forced to stop thinking about Sri Lanka Cricket! Sanath Jayasuriya and Aravinda De Silva were forced to walk away midway through Sumathipala regime. Only former players like Hashan Tillakaratne, Asanka Gurusinha and Graeme Labrooy, who goes behind a certain Camp, are getting recognition and benefits at SLC.
“In India, former players are contributing in every single aspect of the game. In Sri Lanka, former players have completely been sidelined” he added further.
