From Formidable Giants To a Frail Unit: What Led To The Constant Decline of Sri Lankan Cricket?

Sanath Jayasuriya, Marvan Atappatu, Kumar Sangakkara, Mahela Jayawardene, Upul Tharanga, Tillakaratne Dilshan, the list goes on. It was th...

Sanath Jayasuriya, Marvan Atappatu, Kumar Sangakkara, Mahela Jayawardene, Upul Tharanga, Tillakaratne Dilshan, the list goes on. It was the outlook of the Sri Lanka batting line-up back in the day. Moreover, with the likes of Chaminda Vaas and Muttiah Muralitharan present in the team, the bowling was even more formidable. This was a team that used to present its contention in every ICC trophy and was one of the premier contenders as well till the 2011 World Cup. From floating in the troposphere higher than many, Sri Lanka have fallen quickly and in the last decade, the situation has gone from bad to worse. The stalwarts have bid adieu to the game and the reinforcements so far haven't been good enough. So, what has led to the decline of Sri Lanka cricket?

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Robin Uthappa Answers The Query

To delve deeper into the subject, republicworld.com sought the opinion of an expert and it came from the end of former India cricketer Robin Uthappa. Ahead of the start of the India vs Sri Lanka series, Sony Sports Network hosted a virtual press event where Uthappa was the special guest. He addressed all the queries of the media and expressed his views on pressing topics like Hardik Pandya being snubbed from T20I captaincy to Shubman Gill becoming the new captain in the shortest format. We asked him about the debacle of once who were cricketing giant, Sri Lanka, and enquired whether it a dearth of talent in the country or if there is some other factor that has contributed to the constant plummet. Uthappa understood the complexity and have an elaborative answer.

"I don't think there is a dearth of talent. I think there is talent. You know, I was just talking about survival mentality and thriving mentality. You know, and one of the things we have seen in Sri Lankan cricket over the last, in my view, six years, from 2019, I've been working as a broadcaster and I've been just quietly noticing what Sri Lanka have been doing. And you've seen captains come and go." Uthappa said.

"You've seen shopping and changing within the side. There's political unrest as well within the country. And if you look at this squad or you look at the Sri Lankan team, you feel banned from the outside. Because you see the quality of players that are there, but they haven't thrived over the last six or seven years. They have given the opportunity to someone like Dinesh Chandimal, they've given opportunities to Dasun Shanakar to lead this side. You've seen, I think, you know, the likes of, who's this, Hasaranga lead this side. You've seen multiple captains over the last six years. You've seen more than seven or eight or nine captains you know so i think there's a sense of insecurity within this group there's a lot of chopping and changing that's happened within this group." Uthappa added

"So, I think the underlying feeling is of one of being insecure and when you operate out of that place as a group um then it becomes hard to stack up solid performances if you ask individual potential of these players you can tell that the individually these players are very very high-quality players you know the likes of when i look at this squad itself, the T20I squad, Patum Nisanka, Charita Salanka, solid, solid players, Abhishek Fernando, brilliant player, Kusal Mendes, Kusal Pereira, Dinesh Chandimal, you know, you take them individually, they are phenomenal players, but then you put them into a group, and you put them into an ecosystem that isn't secure. You know, you see the kind of performances that you see from Sri Lanka over the last five or six years. I think someone really needs to take stock of the situation there. And hopefully they will be able to take stock. One person can kind of lead this, the cricketing front. And if they're able to do that, then, and that one person, if they have a long-term perspective as to what they want to achieve as far as Sri Lankan cricket is concerned uh I think they will be able to play to their potential and playing to their potential would mean a World Cup contending side." Uthappa concluded. 

*Watch the live coverage of India Tour of Sri Lanka, 7 PM onwards starting on 27th July 2024 LIVE on Sony Sports Ten 5 & Sony Sports Ten 1 in English, Sony Sports Ten 3 in Hindi and Sony Sports Ten 4 channels in Tamil & Telugu. Sony Sports Network is the official broadcaster for India Tour of Sri Lanka in India - comprising three T20Is & three ODIs.

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