Sri Lanka's downward spiral is sad and alarming

As Sikandar Raza and Graeme Cremer celebrate the historic moment at Hambantota, one man was left stunned. He was leaving the field after completing the formalities dropping his head and with a bemused face. He was sad and tired. The consistent defeats over the last one year have taken a heavy toll on his mind and body.

Angelo Mathews, one of the stars of world cricket and dubbed as the future Messiah of Lankan cricket after Mahela Jayawardene and Kumar Sangakkara, could not bear the defeat against a lower-ranked side at his own backyard and such happened for the first time in the history of Sri Lankan cricket. "It's one of the lowest points in my career and a hard one to swallow. Everything went against us, from the toss to misreading the wicket. But there are no excuses. At the end of the day, we were not good enough to beat them. They played better cricket," said the dejected Mathews after the fifth one-day international.

Later on, he decided to step down as the captain of Sri Lanka from all formats. The Sri Lanka Cricket Board appointed Dinesh Chandimal as the Test captain and Upul Tharanga as the captain of limited-overs format.

Since Kumar Sangakkara and Mahela Jayawardene left the scene, the going has been very tough to Sri Lanka. Apart from a great Test series win against Australia last year and depleted West Indies unit, the Lankan Lions have been, somewhat, shoddy in limited-overs cricket, especially in the 50-over format.  In the last two years, Sri Lanka played ten ODI series and out of which they have lost seven of them, which is very frustrating for a side who were once regarded as one of the finest teams in 50-over formats.

If someone says, the Lankan team lacks talent, then, it would be a wrong statement in my opinion. The current team has enough talent to bring back Sri Lanka on the right track, but what I feel is, they need a settled coach who can transform these young talents into match winners. Over the years, Sri Lanka have not gone well with the coaches. They just kept getting appointed and then, left the scene unceremoniously.

They badly need a very competent coach who can work with this young team and instill self-belief in them and in my opinion, Dav Whatmore would be the best coach to help Sri Lanka come out of this rut. Whatmore can provide a huge support to Chandimal and Tharanga and make them understand what captaincy means in cricket and how to lead a young team during the phase of an ugly transition.

Then there are problems within the board which needs to be settled as soon as possible. From the boss of Sri Lanka Cricket to the chief selector, who fielded 39 players since his appointment, either needs to be moderated or needs to be cut off from Sri Lankan cricket fraternity.  

Short-sightedness and confusing decisions have done enough damage to Sri Lankan cricket. I am sorry to say, Sri Lanka’s downward spiral has become a big worry for the cricket fans. 

Thank You

Faisal Caesar