Spineless show leaves Lanka with mountain to climb

The Test series win against Australia last year could’ve ushered in a new era. The losses to South Africa could’ve been due to lack of experience. The Test loss to Bangladesh could’ve been due to fatigue.

But the alarm bells were ringing when the Angelo Mathewsled Sri Lanka were beaten by the 11th ranked Scotland just ahead of the ICC Champions Trophy. Sri Lanka’s misery continued during the tournament when they lost to eventual champions Pakistan from a winning position. This wasn’t all as Sri Lanka, so strong at home, couldn’t stop Zimbabwe from winning their first-ever overseas ODI series.

Now, India have rubbed salt into Sri Lanka’s wounds with a 3-0 thrashing. Agreed Sri Lanka were a depleted side but the will to fight was only seen during the second innings of the Colombo Test. didn’t mince words when he said Test was a ‘lofty’ word to use for the lopsided series. “To be frank, you can’t call this a Test match. The Indian team hasn’t been tested at all,” Gavaskar said in the post-match discussion.

“A Ranji team in the elite status can beat this Sri Lankan side.”

Sri Lanka’s World Cup-winning skipper Arjuna Ranatunga has expressed anger at how the island’s cricket is administered and said he has stopped watching the team’s international fixtures. “Sri Lanka cricket and the manner in which it is being administered is so disgusting I don’t watch our national cricket team anymore,” Ranatunga said.

A year ago, Angelo Mathews had demanded improvement in the Sri Lankan cricket system.

“The coaches at the back-end have a big job to do,” he said. “If we don’t have bowlers, we have to know how to produce them.”

There will be introspection in the Sri Lanka dressing room after the loss to India, but drastic changes may be beyond the Board. However, that is what Sri Lankan cricket fans will be rooting for.