Asia Cup: Can Sri Lanka team bring some cheer in the hard times?

It’s still early to say if Sri Lanka can add to their impressive tally of five Asia Cup titles, but it will be quite a poetic justice if they can. It can certainly go a long way in applying some salve to the wounds of the people from the Emareld Isles, who had been coping with one of their worst economic crisis this year.

Months of shortage of fuel, electricity and foodgrains which continued to torment the lives of common people boiled over in early July when thousands of protestors stormed into the presidential palace of Gotabaya Rajapakse in Colombo. Meanwhile, far away from the madding crowd in Galle, a revitalised Sri Lanka were fighting tooth-and-nail against Australia in a two-Test series which finished 1-1.

Earlier, they came back strongly against Australia to clinch the one-day series 3-2 at home, and a major takeaway was that Dasun Shanaka’s men proved to be the tough customers they were known to be once in home conditions. Sri Lanka Cricket, the governing body, were upbeat about hosting the Asia Cup on schedule and the Asian Cricket Council (ACC) was ready to wait and watch – till they eventually decided in collective wisdom to shift it to the UAE with Lanka as the hosts.

  It’s difficult to say if the spotlight of the world media on a nation in turmoil galvanised them as fighting unit on the pitch – but the cricketers’ community – referred to as the privileged lot did not shy away from becoming the face of the protests. The likes of Arjuna Ranatunga, their World Cup winning captain in 1996, Sanath Jayasuriya joining the protesters were common while the likes of Kumar Sangakkara and Mahela Jayawardene were extremely vocal on the social media.

The big test, therefore, lies ahead of Shanaka as well the spunky Test captain Dimuth Karunaratne to show if they can carry on the good work and revive the glory. A stirring show in the Asia Cup, where they have been a dominant force in the past, could just be a beginning!

Looking back on Sri Lanka’s crucial six-wicket win over India on Tuesday, it was a testimony to their new-found consistency for more than a year now. It was their third straight chase of a 170-plus target in the tournament and there is a certain X-factor about this group, built around the experienced opening partnership of Kusal Mendis-Pathum Nissanka, a middle order with Charith Asalanka,  Bhanu Rajapaksa and skipper Shanaka himself at number six.

Interestingly enough, Wanindu Hasaranga – easily the most discussed cricketer from Sri Lanka over the last couple of years – failed to contribute much with either ball or bat but it didn’t really matter. The early damage was was done by young left-arm paceman Dilshan Madushanka, who grabbed the vital wicket of Virat Kohli in his 3-24 haul while Mahesh Theeksana is turning out to be their new mystery bowler after Ajantha Mendis.

It’s not been overnight that the transformation has come through in Sri Lankan cricket. A lot of the credit goes to South African Mickey Arthur, their long serving coach, who delved deep into the depth of their system to search for young talent. The graph had been really downhill for Sri Lankan cricket during a long period between 2015 and 2021 after the retirement of the likes of Jayawardena, Sangakkara, Tillekeratne Dilshan and Lasith Malinga. The last ODI series they won against a SENA country was against England in 2014 and the two-time world champions had really lost their importance in the world cricket’s pecking order.

 However, the tide really started turning from last year when Sri Lanka gave a stiff fight in the ODI series against a visiting India under Shikhar Dhawan’s captaincy and turned out to be surprise winners in their T20 series. They kept up the winning habit by beating Bangladesh, South Africa and Zimbabwe – going on to play some quality cricket in the World T20 last year in the UAE despite starting as qualifiers.