• ‘It happens sometimes’? No Dasun, a loss by 317 runs has never happened

It is undoubtedly a tough time to be a fan of Sri Lankan Cricket. Sunday’s (15) drubbing by neighbouring India was not only embarrassing, it absolutely put Sri Lanka to its knees. It was the drubbing of this century, and the team will have to do some soul searching before they face the Kiwis in March. 

The year 2022 was a good one for Sri Lanka cricket. Beating Australia at home in an one-day international (ODI) series and the Asia Cup triumph was the major highlight. Despite the disappointment in the T20 World Cup down under, Sri Lanka Cricket was on an upward trajectory after a long time. 

The Afghanistan ODI series in December was an important one for many reasons. Firstly, for automatic qualification for the 50-over World Cup 2023. We simply had to win all three matches against Afghans who are playing in a bilateral series for the first time on the island. We started off horribly losing the first one. But in the second and third matches, the team did well. Unfortunately, the second game was rained off which meant the series finished at 1-1. 

After a successful LPL 2023, the Indian tour was announced. As always, India has not been a favorable hunting ground for Sri Lanka. In 27 bilateral series across all formats, Sri Lanka is yet to win a single series. That itself explains why us, fans and followers, dread when an Indian tour is announced. It is almost as if the cricketing fraternity mentally prepare themselves to be drubbed. 

This time it was different. There was a glimmer of hope, especially given the win over India at the Asia Cup 2022. Little did we know that hope would end in despair on Sunday. 

However, in the opening game of the 3-match T20 series, Sri Lanka was exceptional. With the ball, with the bat, and in the field. We pushed India to the brink and the hosts were panicking after claiming to have to re-strategize their T20 approach at the beginning of the year. Despite getting so close, a couple of misjudgments in the last over cost the game. 

India have not lost their last 11 T20 series at home before this, but Sri Lanka came back in the second game to make 1-1, making the Rajkot T20 a decider. Unfortunately, for the Lions, it had to be an Innings out of this galaxy from Suryakumar Yadav to take their chances away in the final game. 

Looking back at the T20 Series, Sri Lanka were impressive. Even the most pessimistic follower would agree that Sri Lanka did more than what was normally expected in the shorter format in India. 

Then came the 50-over leg starting at Guwahati. The state declared a half day leave for the fans to come and watch India hammering the Lankans all around the park. Despite Shanaka's century, Sri Lanka still lost by 67 runs. The batting was decent but bowling and fielding was disappointing to say the least. 

Come the second game, Sri Lanka was all over the place. Cheaply giving away wickets early on, no clear approach or plan to set up a total. They were bowled out with more than ten overs to spare. With the ball in hand, despite making it tough for the Indians the seamers conceded more extras, and the fielding was once again way below par. 

Then came the dead rubber. Usually, dead rubbers favour the underdog but this time, it only decimated them. Even if you try to be optimistic about the performance in the third game, you simply cannot. The worst defeat ever in the 53-year long history of Limited Overs Cricket. 

The lack of fight with the bat and the lack of ideas in the field when Virat Kohli was whacking all round the park was so evident in the Sri Lankan camp. At comms, Kumar Sangakkara said: “Chris is trying to lead the bowlers and the batters into more discussion of problem-solving in the middle of the field. How do you bowl in certain pitches? How do you take wickets? How do you then go to bowling really well defensively to try and retrain or restrict?” 

Sangakkara pointed out it is the same with the batters, adding: “How do you build partnerships? How do you maximise partnerships and bat a productive 50 overs in ODI cricket?”

He also touched base on how SLC have moved away from the fitness-first culture which was brought in by former coach Mickey Arthur. He added that Sri Lanka cricket team’s current fitness levels are way behind the current international standards and that it is essential to make the players understand that to be on the international stage fitness is non-negotiable and it is all about sustained excellence.

Speaking on YouTube, former Pakistani batter Salman Butt said: “Sri Lanka’s decline is their players. All of their youth are engaging in league cricket. Their major talent moves to leagues, the number-one preference, and then comes the bilateral thing, which is international cricket. Since Jayawardene and Sangakkara, they couldn’t find such high-class players. The players who show talent, their inconsistency levels are too high.” 

Speaking on the post-match show, skipper Dasun Shanaka said: “It's disappointing. Not the game we would have wanted but it happens sometimes. Bowlers and batters both need to learn how to pick wickets on these pitches and how to score runs. Playing positive cricket is the key. If the boys showed intent, bowling would be different. While playing international cricket, we need to play with intent.”

“It happens sometimes”? No Dasun, a loss by 317 runs has never happened in the history of ODI cricket. The margin is no joke. True Sri Lanka have made progress, but are we to be content by mere progress and forget about results? Are we to be content with winning one-off games against top nations? When can we reach a level where other teams fear us? These are questions that need to be answered. 

The year 2023 is a key year for SLC. There is possible constitutional change in the making, the election taking place in a few months and the all important World Cup. As revolutionaries of Limited Overs Cricket back in the 90’s, Sri Lanka simply cannot afford to be playing in the qualifiers for the World Cup. It would go down as a dark day in the history of Sri Lanka Cricket. 

The fate of the lions will be decided when they tour New Zealand in March and play a three-match ODI series. Even if they win all three games, they would ideally need South Africa to lose a couple of their remaining games against England (3) and Netherlands (2) in order to qualify.