Prior to the semi-final on Friday, March
16th, where The Bangladesh Cricket coach, Sri Lankan – Chandika
Hathurusinghe, now 50, had left Bangladesh to become the coach of the Sri
Lankan side, the bad blood may have just been that. Chandika forsaking the team
he built to a world class cricketing entity, decided to accept the appointment
from Sri Lanka, knowing well the problems he is taking on – not leaving from,
by becoming Sri Lanka’s coach.
Sri Lanka had already been beaten at
home by this team, and in this match it had come to the wire, where Sri Lanka
without skipper Chandimal, who was barred from playing due to a slower over
rate, had to use the services of Tisara Perera, as the stand in captain, who
with Kusal Perera salvaged Sri Lanka from an impossible position to one of
nearly winning! The word is NEARLY but for!
So in Friday’s last game, the poor
umpiring on the part of the Sri Lanka umpires, where once the first bounce over
the shoulder was bowled, in the heat of the innings, the umpire failed to
signal the warning. So the bowler, bowled another over the shoulder, (normally resulting
in a no ball) infuriating the Bangladesh skipper, who called the team off, a
photo went VIRAL on FB and social media of a bit player, server of drinks,
pointing his finger at Tisara and the latter merely ignoring it, which was the
best thing to do. This act infuriated the Sri Lankan supporters, who further
got worked up as the dressing room door had been smashed by the Bangladeshi skipper,
shown later. The whole country as it were turned their anger at losing, against
the MINNOWS and in favor of our arch rival in Cricket, India, as the Final was
Bangladesh vs India.
Of course India won on a last ball 6. Bangladesh
three overs earlier, one of their bowlers managed a maiden and 36 was required
off the last two, they seemed surely to win. So with the tide of the game
turning such, and India finally winning, all SL media was completely against Bangladesh.
Earlier, the Saturday Lankadeepa headline was about the door being smashed with
a lot of VITRIOL aimed at Bangladesh. If their Ambassador got that headline and
the continuing story, which I cut out, translated, he would get quite a shock
at the completely inappropriate rant against another SAARC country amounting to
war.
The partiality of the journalist,
representing the puerile sentiment of the gallery in Sri Lanka, COMPLETELY
overlooked the error of the umpire which resulted in the captain’s outburst
demanding the team withdraw. It is not Bangladesh alone who are poor sportsman
here, it is definitely the whole country, Sri Lanka, who should be ashamed of
themselves in treating the B cricketers for a reaction.
It is really sad that the Sri Lankan comments on social media against Bangladesh is so mean. It shows they don't even understand what they were upset about, when the Umpires were clearly wrong in their decisions, twice as even on the second time, there was no indicating of above the shoulder, and it was a higher ball than the ball before as it had empowered the bowler to be even more daring.
ReplyDeleteyou can therefore say the bowler too was being unsportsmanlike as much as that fielder who was pointing the finger.
So the partiality and the ignorance of the SL pontificators, has damaged SL Bangla relations, due to their ignorance, much in the same way as the animalistic tendency of the racists have damaged SL's international reputation.
It looks like Sri Lankan education needs a sea change first before even allowing people to spectate, let alone comment.
The facts are stubborn. India was first, Bangladesh second and Sri Lanka third in the Nidahas, no amount of hitting the air is going to change that fact. So it is to be ashamed of and not to behave like donkeys poking fun at others
ReplyDeleteYou are 100% right. Bangladesh is not an easy prey anymore. They have become a strong unit. Everyone thinks it was because of Hathurusinghe, the Sri Lankan coach hired by Bangladesh. I think it was unfair for the Bangladeshi players. They were becoming a fighting unit and losing crunch time matches due to a few mistakes, exactly like the way Sri Lanka did before 1996. With or without Hathurusinghe, they would have become a strong team by now with experiences and commitments. They tasted the blood several times and gained the confidence that they can win. Hathurusinghe was instrumental but giving him all the credits is simply similar to giving all the credits of 1996 success of Sri Lanka to the then coach Davenell Whatmore. Both these coaches were outstanding but players were also performing better by the time the coaches were hired.
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