Well! Well!! Well!!!……Sometimes disappointments does not come as surprises, but only as a matter of fact. The long and winding road of the Lankan cricket’s dilemma continues to grow longer and longer and it seems like the grueling travails will never end.

After a huge debate the Lankan cricket selectors managed on the eleventh hour to cook up a squad of fifteen players for the T20 World Cup and the tour of the United States of America and much of the deliberation spun only around one slot. It was a simple question of asking themselves ‘do we have the back bone to do what we want to do or are we going to succumb to peer pressure and let the wagon roll forgetting what the cricketing consequences are, but we go on to live another slithery day.’

A week ago on Friday, the selectors met, but could not come to terms. There was much pressure even from within the team to drop failing Sanath Jayasuriya, but considerations other than cricket and to preserve their own survival to be one important guy in normal society and to be recognized as a national cricket selector played the pivotal role of decision making at that point.

Chandimal ……. in the right place at the right time.

Looking at the order of selection, the chopping of Upul Tharanga who fought his way back into reckoning after a while in the wilderness and did well for himself in the international arena and the local Provincial tournament was done with a two edged knife. Prior to that it also must be mentioned when a decision of that nature is taken by the local selectors there is very little din made about it as in the order of political merit in the cricketing system, Tharanga’s name comes low down in the order. So it is a very safe cut.

Then comes the tricky bit. The first edge is that Mahela Jayawardena though being the most accomplished batsman actively engaged in international cricket in Sri Lankan has been a suspect performer in his usual position at number four for whatever reason is still too good to leave out of an important engagement of this magnitude and has and hardly failed when he has batted right on top as an opener.

The argument is that even in India their most accomplished batsman Sachin Tendulkar bats top in the order in the limited overs version and bats in the middle order when it comes to the real thing of Test cricket. But the only difference is that Sachin has been doing it for the past so many years and very well knowing about Mahela’s desires kept batting him at number four only now are they trying to do the right thing. Once a selector explained to me – “with Sanath and Dilshan at the top and Kumar coming at number three Mahela invariably misses batting at the first round of the mandatory overs where you can hit over the top and Mahela prefers that, but as things are the status quo cannot be changed”.

A very politically right statement, but did it serve Sri Lanka’s cricket in that sense? Mahela kept on failing most of the time at number four so much so it even cost him the captaincy of the national team when he decided to relinquish at one point when pressure was being built up by a certain gang of cricketers.The other cutting edge in Tharanga’s chop may have been the inclusion of Sanath Jayasuriya whom the selectors had to include for their own survival. In all probabilities Jayawardena will open batting with T.M. Dilshan (Who also appears to have lost his nerve since of late) and on the looks of it Sanath mentioned low in the order may play the role of the third opener on the bench rather than a bowling all-rounder with spinners Muralitharan, Suraj Randiv and Ajantha Mendis on call while Angelo Mathews and Thisara Perera looking out for a seamer-batsman position.

As mentioned last week young Dinesh Chandimal has been given his break and now it is up to him to make it good at the number four slot and make a telling change in the Lankan middle order. It must be mentioned this is a good move by the Lankan selectors as they have given a YOUNG player at the age of twenty to prove himself something that the selectors of yesteryear did and were very successful in discovering players in the calibre of Aravinda de Silva and Arjuna Ranatunga.

However where the selectors of this yore does not want to tread on this tricky path of selecting young blood where batsmen are concerned and the same situation prevailed a while earlier where even spinners were concerned. However Chandimal being at the right place at the right time has been lucky enough to be picked and it is up to him to perform with the chance that has come his way.
In all probabilities the Lankan top order will read as Dilshan, Jayawardena, Sangakkara, Chandimal, Kapugedera/Jayasuriya, Mathews and the bowlers.

Among the bowlers it is very heartening to see veteran Muralitharan once again back on his own and bowling with all his old guile for the Chennai Super Kings in the IPL tournament and even was good enough to wear the purple cap after the forgotten Lankan hero Chaminda Vaas. However left arm seamer Chanaka Welagedera bowls a bit like Chaminda Vaas and needs all the time and encouragement to develop. Even Joseph Chaminda Vaas did not become a champion just overnight.

In conclusion the matter lies at -- the selectors have chosen the safe path of chopping the Mr. Nobody Tharanga for their own survival and how long are they going to lie to themselves saying it was the right decision made. Just ask them to go in front of their bathroom mirror and say it a thousand times and they may not do it again.