Sri Lanka is the official ‘Minnows’ of world cricket Now! In Asia Cup, they were comprehensively beaten by Bangladesh and Afghanistan. Few years ago, likes of Sangakkara and Mahela were scoring hundreds, double hundreds for fun against these nations. Times have significantly changed now. Since Chandika Hathurusingha’s arrival in Sri Lanka as the ‘Coach Cum Messiah’ no Sri Lanka player has managed a single three digit score in ODI cricket!
Moreover, they have completely forgotten the art of making runs, constructing the innings and playing according to the situation!
Even the younger players like Dhananjaya De Silva, Kusal Mendis, Kusal Perera, Roshen Silva (in all formats), who were impressive before Hathurusingha’s arrival, Now looked lost and low in confidence.
So, what’s the issue? When Cricket Age inquired within the team, some shocking facts were revealed.
According to team insiders and players (who were part of the team in last 10 months), the overdose of coaching by Hathurusingha and his ‘most favorite’ batting coach Thilan Samaraweera is killing the natural game of these young players.
“Look, the problem is that Hathurusingha and Thilan always talks about training, preparing. They spends hours at trainings. But the fact is that they are forcing players to play the brand of cricket, which is not their game. In other words, they are stopping players to play their natural game” a team insider, who has been in the national setup since last two years, told Cricket Age.
In 2017, Kusal Mendis gave the impression that he has discovered his game for all the formats! He had scored plenty of half centuries and few centuries in that period. Now, he looks completely out of sort! Dhananjaya De Silva proved a solid number three in 2017. Now, he is finding it hard to hit the ball even.
“In this twenty-20 era, batsmen needs freedom. They want to express themselves by playing their brand of cricket. Hathurusingha and Samaraweera are forcing them to play the game, which they are not familiar of” he added further.
As batsmen are unable to score big, Sri Lanka’s ODI form is woefull. Since Hathurasingha has taken over the helm, Sri Lanka’s white ball winning percentage is less than 50, despite the fact that in that period team played mostly against Bangladesh, Zimbabwe, Afghanistan and depleted South Africa.
“By inviting Mahela and Sangakkara for few hours here and there, Mr. Hathurusingha is trying to shift the focus. This time, board is going to ask some harsh questions to him” a top SLC Official told Cricket Age.
