Jayasuriya – Brought back from the wilderness to allow him to make a dignified exit?

The Sri Lankan selectors’ decision seems emotional rather than one borne out of logic.

 

By Nishad Pai Vaidya

 

Sanath Jayasuriya’s return into the national team after one and a half years and his subsequent retirement announcement seems to be a well scripted drama. The Sri Lankan selectors made the surprising announcement that they had included the veteran for Sri Lanka’s limited-overs matches on the tour of England. The question that popped in everybody’s mind was what can a 41-year old add to a team that is looking to rebuild after a successful World Cup campaign? After the team was announced, Jayasuriya declared that he will play the first One-Day International (ODI) and the only T20 International of the series and then retire! Thus he will play his final international game two days before his 42nd birthday. From the outset it looks more of a good retirement plan for Jayasuriya.

 

Jayasuriya’s last ODI was the infamous Delhi ODI of the bilateral series between India and Sri Lanka in late 2009. As his team struggled on a shocker of a pitch, Jayasuriya battled the demons to score 31. That was not enough for him to keep his place as he was going through a very lean period in ODIs for a few months. His five innings before his last ODI read: 15, 5, 24, 0, and 10. However, he was persisted with in T20 Internationals as he played for Sri Lanka in the ICC World T20 2010 and the T20 series against New Zealand in Florida in May 2010. His last five scores in T20 Internationals are: 1, 0, 5, 6, and 3 not out. As he failed to create an impact, he was duly discarded and it looked like it was the end of his great career. For the purpose of the next few paragraphs, let us assume that he didn’t announce his retirement and had intended to play the entire England series. Let us assume that the Lankan team management wanted him in their setup for a much longer time.

 

Jayasuriya has claimed that he is fit for international cricket and that his age won’t affect his contribution to Sri Lankan cricket. In the past few months he was seen on television as an expert and it would have given anybody the impression that his international career was all but over. His inclusion raised quite a few questions such as: Already forty plus, does he have the legs for the rigors for overs-limit international cricket? What does this selection signify? Is there a dearth of young talent in Sri Lanka?

 

Firstly, we must take a look at Jayasuriya’s most recent stats in limited-overs cricket. He played the Sri Lanka Cricket Inter-Provincial Limited Over Tournament in January this year for Ruhuna. He ended up as the fourth-highest run-scorer, the only men who scored more than him were Kumar Sangakkara, Tillakaratne Dilshan and Dinesh Chandimal.

 

Just prior to this tournament, he played for Bloomfield Cricket and Athletic Club in the Premier Limited-Over Tournament Tier A. He wasn’t a huge success as he was in the more recent Inter-Provincial tournament, recording just one fifty in four matches.

 

Here are his numbers in the 50 over matches in the Sri Lankan domestic season 2010-11.

 

Tournament	Matches	Runs	Average	Fifties	Wickets
Inter-Provincial	5	203	40.60	2	5
Premier Tier A	4	88	22.00	1	6

 

His stats in the most recent tournament look encouraging, but what are the Sri Lankan selectors trying to do by including a man who will turn 42 during the ODI series? If you have a look at the run charts of these two tournaments, you would find that a few young players have done well. One such youngster, Dimuth Karunaratne, a left-handed opening batsman has been picked for the England tour. There is another young player, Mahela Udawatte, who has done really well but hasn’t found a place in the squad.

 

Udawatte has played for Sri Lanka in the past and although he did not get big scores, he showed that he can be dangerous at the top. He was the top run scorer in the Premier Limited Over Tournament Tier A and did decently well in the Inter-Provincial Tournament. The point to be noted is that he is just 24.

 

Here are Udawatte’s stats in the Sri Lankan limited overs domestic season:

 

Tournament	Matches	Runs	Average	Fifties
Inter-Provincial	4	147	36.75	2
Premier Tier A	6	351	58.50	4

 

Udawatte has runs and age on his side, but Jayasuriya’s reputation and experience has beaten him for a spot in the Sri Lankan team. Going by the numbers, the move to include Jayasuriya makes a bit of sense as he can contribute with his bowling as well but at the same time when you have a younger player with better scores then why give a 41 year old another run in international cricket?

 

Bringing the retirement announcement back into the equation

 

On previous occasions, Jayasuriya had been dropped and then brought back due to political influence. And he used those opportunities to answer his critics, be it in Australia and England in 2006 or the Asia Cup in 2008. This time it looks like it is a stage set for him say goodbye to international cricket. Was he told before his selection that they are trying to give him a send-off which is why he is retiring or he just wants to leave the game without prolonging his already prolonged career? It looks as if he was told before the team announcement “We are giving you this chance to bid adieu as a mark of respect.” If the Lankan selectors knew that he would announce his retirement then this selection is simply an emotional one and thus, to give the great player a final farewell, Sri Lanka have sacrificed a spot which could have gone to somebody like Udawatte.

 

(Nishad Pai Vaidya, a 20-year-old law student, is a club and college-level cricketer. His teachers always complain, “He knows the stats and facts of cricket more than the subjects we teach him.”)

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