Sri Lankan Cricket has been passing through a testing phase for quite some time now. After the retirement of their marquee players, the Islanders have not been able to perform consistently and have experienced a major slump in form, especially in the shorter formats.
Their performances on the South African tour and in the home series against Bangladesh have not been up to the mark. They even crashed out of the recently concluded ICC Champions Trophy in the group stage.
And now after the recent home series loss against Zimbabwe, Lankan cricket has been put into dire straits. Even after fielding a full strength squad, Sri Lanka could not stop the spirited Zimbabweans from upsetting them. Eventually, their captain Angelo Mathews has stepped down as the captain of the team and new captains have been appointed.
Even though the Sri Lankan Cricket board has been putting in a lot of efforts to groom the youngsters, they simply have not been able to fill the boots of some of their best cricketers. The retirements of these players have left huge voids in the team and the Lankans are finding it very hard to find their replacements.
Let’s take a look at the five cricketers whom the Sri Lankans have not been able to replace thus far.
#5 Chaminda Vaas
Chaminda Vaas is widely described as the most penetrative and successful new-ball bowler that Sri Lanka has ever produced. Vaas served the Lankan cricket for about 15 years and set many national and international records including the merit of being the only bowler to take an eight-wicket haul in a game in ODIs.
The left arm pacer troubled even the likes of Ricky Ponting, Stephen Fleming and Sachin Tendulkar with his accurate line and length. His career was largely injury free which is a remarkable feat to achieve for a fast bowler whose career spanned for about one and a half decades.
Vaas retired from international cricket in 2009 and since then, Sri Lanka has not found an effective new-ball bowler who could trouble the batsmen with swing, accuracy and pace. Many youngsters such as Chanaka Welegedera, Thilan Thushara, Isuru Udana and Suranga Lakmal have tried to lead the Lankan pace attack but unfortunately, their careers have been plagued either by injuries or inconsistency.
#4 Sanath Jayasuriya
One of the most dashing openers the game has ever witnessed; Sanath Jayasuriya is arguably the best opener in Sri Lankan cricketing history. The southpaw is famous for his aggressive style of play and terrorised even the best of bowlers.
On his day, Jayasuriya just mauled any bowling attack in the world and single-handedly won many matches for the Lankans. Jayasuriya, in fact, was not only a batting great but also a skilful left arm spinner who made picked up some crucial wickets when the team needed them the most. In a career that spanned 22 years, Sanath had a tremendous impact on the youngsters in the country and inspired many to take up the sport.
Jayasuriya retired in 2011 and since then, the Lankans have tried many openers but to no avail. Be it Kusal Perera, Lahiru Thirimanne or Dimuth Karunaratne, no one has been able to match the class of Jayasuriya and get the team off to good starts consistently.
However, in recent times, they seemed to have found a new life in the form of Niroshan Dickwella and Danushka Gunathilaka who have impressed everyone with their consistently good performances in the recent matches. It’ll be interesting to see if these two can carry on and continue the legacy of Jayasuriya.
#3 Mahela Jayawardene
Mahela Jayawardene is considered to be one of the best batsmen that Sri Lanka has ever produced. He is the first player in Sri Lankan cricketing history to surpass the milestone of 10,000 Test runs. Jayawardene was one of Sri Lanka’s batting mainstays and he, along with Kumar Sangakkara, carried the responsibility of the Lankan middle order for many years.
From playing chanceless innings to playing some quick fire ones, the stylish right-hander was as versatile a batsman you could get- one who could play in any situation of the game. In fact, his highest Test score of 374 against South Africa is regarded as the highest absolutely chanceless innings by a batsman in Test cricket history. Apart from being a champion batsman, he was also a successful captain and led his team to many memorable victories.
After his retirement in 2015, a number of highly promising batsmen, such as Chamara Kapugedera, Dinesh Chandimal and Dhananjaya de Silva, have tried to cement their place in the middle order but haven’t seen much success.
Currently, the Lankan Lions have pinned all their hopes on the talented Kusal Mendis who is highly rated in the domestic circuits. But only time will tell if he is good enough to hold the horses and turn out to be as a prolific run getter as Jayawardene.
#2 Muttiah Muralitharan
Muttiah Muralitharan is by far the greatest off-spinner the game has ever seen and has been synonymous with the rise of Sri Lankan cricket since the early nineties. Often called as the smiling assassin, Murali, as he is known in cricket circles, had bamboozled batsmen all over the world with his off breaks and had created ripples in the cricketing world with his mastery over the ‘doosra’.
Many batsmen found it hard to pick him and regard him as the toughest bowler they’ve ever faced. Murali was a true gentleman of the game and is idolised by many aspiring off spinners across the globe. He ended up with over 1300 international wickets and is the highest Test and ODI wicket taker of all time.
Unfortunately, as it was expected, Sri Lanka has not been successful in finding an off-spinner who could be at least half as threatening as him in the shorter formats. Ajantha Mendis promised a lot initially but gradually faded away.
Many promising right-arm off break bowlers such as Suraj Randiv, Sachitra Senanayake and Dilruwan Perera have lacked the fizz and consistency in their bowling and haven’t been much successful in troubling the batsmen. We need to wait and see if Sri Lanka does manage to find a consistent potent weapon in the spin department of the shorter formats.
#1 Kumar Sangakkara
The best batsman that Sri Lanka has produced and perhaps the finest left-handed batsman ever, Kumar Sangakkara is probably is the toughest Sri Lankan cricketer to replace. He is considered as the most polished and prudent of batsmen in cricket.
Over the course of his 15-year career, Sangakkara has scored over 28,000 international runs including as many as 63 centuries. He has broken and surpassed many batting records in the process and established himself as one of the legends of the game.
In fact, he even won a fan poll to find the ODI greatest player of all time beating Sachin Tendulkar in the final. Besides his immense batting prowess, he even successfully kept wickets for Sri Lanka and also captained them to the final in the 2011 ICC World Cup.
He retired from international cricket in 2015 and ever since, it has been as if the Sri Lankan batting tank has gone dry for runs. In Sanga’s absence, the batsmen have failed on many occasions to put up a decent total on the board and as a result, have suffered many defeats. Sri Lanka desperately needs someone like Upul Tharanga or Angelo Mathews to step up and take the responsibility of scoring runs for the team and guiding them to some much-needed victories.
It’s very sad that once a world cup winning team (1996) now stands a possible risk of not being eligible for the direct qualification for the 2019 world Cup. It’s time that experienced players such as Chandimal, Tharanga, Mathews, Kusal Perera and Thisara Perera come to the fore and resurrect Lankan cricket.
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