Is Thisara contemplating retirement?
Is Lankan all-rounder Thisara Perera who opted out of the Sri Lanka ‘A’ tour of England and Ireland contemplating retirement from international cricket?
The left-handed bowling all-rounder who has played six tests, 76 ODIs and 38 T-20s had been down thumbed by the selectors at national level and suddenly pulled out of the national squad during the present ODI series against South Africa citing mental stress.
It is also reliably understood that another Test playing nation has made overtures to Perera if he is really interested in retiring from national cricket in Sri Lanka
However, according to informed insiders, Perera is cheesed-off with the current state of affairs. After playing a heroic role in the T-20 World Cup winning effort where he even hit the winning runs against India in the final, Perera feels that he is being served with a different spoon. He feels that he is being branded only as a T-20 player and his talent is not entertained in the other two forms of the game. He also feels if he is branded as a T-20 specialist, he should not be bound by other duties.
Recently, the selectors turned down his request to play in the Big Bash in Australia stating that he had to work on some technical aspects with the coaches. They also refused to give him the No Objection Certificate (NOC) for him to take part in the West Indian T-20 tournament and included him in the ‘A’ tour of the United Kingdom. At one point he even has confided with one of the officials “if I am only a T-20 player why should I be kept with the squad right through. How many T-20 matches do we play for a year?”
When inquired as to why Perera was refused the NOC on two occasions, Sri Lanka Cricket CEO Ashley de Silva said, “Generally when a player requests an NOC, we consult the selectors about the prevailing status of the player and we issue the certificate with their approval. For the Big Bash, Perera’s NOC was refused by the selectors who felt he had to work with the coaching department on some technical issues. Thereafter he was refused the NOC for the West Indian T-20 as he was a part of Sri Lanka’s ‘A’ tour of England. He pulled out of the ‘A’ tour citing mental stress and we have sent him for medical treatment. He is a player within the loop and a player who has about another ten years of cricket in him.”
However, it is understood that some senior officials have already spoken to the beleaguered player and told him that he should not get disheartened by sudden hic-ups of this nature.
An official told the Sunday Times, “We will be playing the World Cup in a few months’ time in Australia and New Zealand, Thisara’s type of bowling can be very effective on those wickets. Right now Thisara gets to bowl only about four overs in an ODI, but, if he is playing in the World Cup we need him to bowl his quota of ten overs. The ‘A’ tour of England was ideal fodder for him. There he would have bowled his quota of ten overs and that would have helped him to bounce back into contention in the ODIs. However, he should not take any drastic action right now and it is also our responsibility to see that it does not occur”.