Winner ICC world twenty 20 final – Sri Lanka
View(s):Most of us forget the fact that cricket is a team game. Both in the finals and semi-finals of this tournament all the members contributed to the victory.
It is very important to know who the main players were who brought us to the final. According to my judgment as a former National Selector and player, the two players were Lasith Malinga in bowling and Angelo Mathews in batting. As bowling the last three overs are vital Lasith did just that by bowling the last two overs and giving away less than six runs per over. His yorkers were effective and unscoreable against. Mathews on the other hand scored freely in the last overs scoring over 10 runs in an over thus helping the side to build up a victory total.
I give credit to the selectors for taking the bold decision to appoint Lasith to skipper the last three matches. Also all the players gave him full co-operation to achieve victory.
As for me, I feel it is premature for Sangakkara to take a decision to retire from 20 Over Cricket. I do not know the reason why he did it, but my thinking is that when you are still good and fit to play for Sri Lanka, you must not let the team and Sri Lanka Cricket down by taking a sudden decision to retire, and I do hope that this will not happen to those playing cricket for Sri Lanka presently.
It is my opinion that 20 Over Cricket has to be recognised in school cricket since players have to be built up for the future. I suggest a separate competition at District level to be held to encourage this type of cricket, selecting a team from those who are not playing in the premier team of the school or selecting a team including around three players from the premier team.
Let the wish of every cricket lover be that our National Team will do better and better.
Lasantha Rodrigo
Moratuwa