Upul Tharanga: Taking world cricket by storm

For many of us, cricket is a sport that we follow very passionately and thoroughly enjoy. But for Warushavithana Upul Tharanga, it is that and a lot more - more so after the deadly Asian tsunami washed away his family home. Amidst the huge tragedy, Tharanga found solace in cricket. His fortunes took a turn for a better when he was selected in the Sri Lankan one-day squad last July. And since then, it’s been no less than a remarkable debut season for the rookie southpaw - especially in the shorter format. With 6 centuries in 31ODIs, Tharanga has already taken the cricket world by storm and seems destined to be a worthy successor to the ‘Matara Marauder’ Sanath Jayasuriya. In fact, Tharanga is the only batsman in the history of ODI cricket to score five centuries in his first 30 one-day internationals. And the way he’s performing, there are many surely more in store. Additionally, he is competent enough to keep wickets as well if the need arises.

Tharanga’s instant rise to stardom won’t surprise those who have followed his cricketing career from an early age. The elegant left-hander participated in Lanka’s Premier League tournament when he was 15. He later went on to represent the Sri Lanka under-17 and under-19 with grand success. In fact during their under-19 tour to Pakistan, Tharanga was amazingly consistent with half-centuries in both the two Tests and two one-dayers. He even got a taste league cricket in England where he represented Loughton Cricket Club in Essex.

Like many of the current stars in international cricket, his name too came up for serious reckoning after a scintillating display in the under-19 World Cup. In the 2004 edition, Tharanga came up with a ton against the Proteas and a blitzkrieg half-century against India in the very next game. And after a fruitful stint with the Lanka A squad against the West Indies, he got the much-deserved call up for national duty. The rest, as the cliché goes, is history.

The first of many

Ask any cricketer and he would tell you how much he cherishes that maiden century no matter how weak a opposition it must have come against. It’s the cricketing equivalent of having your first child. For a cricketer, the sentiment must be something similar to the feeling of becoming a proud dad. Upul Tharanga’s moment in the sun came against Bangladesh on home turf.

Playing in his fifth one-day international, Tharanga made full use of the luck that came his way (he was dropped on 13 at second slip) and went on to score his first ODI century. Tharanga also shared a stand of perfect 100 with fellow left-hander and destructive opener Sanath Jayasuriya. The latter fell after scoring a quickfire 40 from 45 balls. But Tharanga proceeded towards his maiden century and in the process helped Sri Lanka post a healthy 295-6 in the stipulated 50 overs. His innings included nine hits to the fence before he finally fell for 105 of 110 balls in the 38th over. Bangladesh did put up a decent showing with the bat. Shariar Nafees, another left-hander with huge promise, scored a patient half-century while skipper Habibul Bashar chipped in with 41. But the slow scoring rate meant that the result was a foregone conclusion. Bangladesh ended up with 220-6, falling short by a comfortable margin of 75 runs.

After the match, then Sri Lankan skipper Marvan Atapattu was all praise for the stylish batsman. "He has a lot of potential and scored a lot of runs for junior teams, it's really nice he got a century early in his career”, were Marvan’s encouraging words for the 21-year-old with a great future.

‘Champion of Champions’

Coming into the ongoing Champions Trophy, Sri Lanka were definitely one of the favourites. This despite the fact that they were one of the qualifying teams. But Upul Tharanga had little to complain as he scored back to back centuries in the first two qualifiers. Tharanga hit 105 against Bangladesh and then followed it up with an impressive century against Zimbabwe – both match winning efforts.

If you wonder why so many comparisons are being drawn between Tharanga and Jayasuriya, you only had to watch the innings he played against Bangladesh in their Lanka’s opening encounter of the Champions Trophy.

Like many other Asians, Tharanga too prefers playing on the rise. His smashing front foot drives were a real treat to the eye and like his mentor, he did not shy away from playing the aerial shot whenever the opportunity presented itself. Ala Jayasuriya, Tharanga too has been blessed with the ability of spotting the length of the ball early but unlike the former, he has a more compact stance that only enhances his chances of succeeding on the big stage – as also his approach towards batting. “I don't know about a secret behind my runs this year - all I try to do is to convert 30 or 40 into a big score", was how Tharanga described his game plan after rattling off yet another century in his short career.

In the game against Zimbabwe, Tharanga shared a crucial 165-run third wicket partnership with Kumar Sangakkara after a couple of wickets fell without substantial contributions. The Lankans ended up making a reasonable 285 with Tharanga scoring yet another impressive 110 and Sagakkara ending up with 80.

Lord at Lords

Tharanga was one of the stars for Sri Lanka as they annihilated the Englishmen 5-0 on their home turf.

In the opening ODI, he scored his third one-day century to help his team take a 1-0 lead in the 5 match series as Lanka won the opening tie by 20 runs.

As the English bowlers struggled to make use of a pitch that offered some assistance to them, Tharanga took the opportunity to make his mark at the headquarters of cricket.

Tharanga’s half-century came of only 44 balls and was punctuated with 10 fours. He then settled down after escaping being stumped on 59 and almost carried his bat through the innings. He was finally dismissed for 120 – his highest ODI score till date - in the penultimate over as Sri Lanka registered 257-9.

And finally… it’s turn to relive the ‘master’ and ‘pupil’ show

The islanders went in to the 5th and final ODI against England at Headingley having already wrapped up the series 4-0. So the game was just of academic interest. The death of legendary England paceman Fred Trueman also dampened the spirits a bit. And with the soccer World Cup fever at peak, the spectators did not bother much about the result of the game. As a result many missed what was one of the best and most entertaining partnerships in the history of the game.

Batting first, England amassed 321-7 - Marcus Trescothick leading the way with a belligerent 121. It seemed the home side were on course for a consolation win. But Tharanga and Jayasuriya obviously had their own plans. The opening duo produced a scintillating stand of 286, the third best partnership ever in the history of ODI cricket. The veteran Jayasuriya was the dominant partner no doubt, his 152 coming off 99 balls. But Tharanga did match him stroke for stroke through most part of his stay at the crease. Such was the dominance of the duo that the visitors surpassed the target of 321 in the 38th over itself. Tharanga ended up making 109 off 102 to make it a memorable English summer for him.

With Sanath Jayasuriya on his way out, the emergence of Upul Tharanga must have pleased the Lankans no end. These are still early days in his career but there are enough indications that here is a man who has it in him to serve Sri Lankan cricket for a long time and step into the mighty boots of Jayasuriya once the great man finally decides to call it a day.

Sreesanth’s exclusion defies cricketing logic

(ALL THESE WRITE UPS HAVE BEEN PUBLISHED IN CRICKET TODAY MAGAZINE)

The BCCI selection committee has done it again. As if the whole controversy surrounding Sourav Ganguly’s selection fiasco wasn’t enough, the ‘wise men of Indian cricket’ have decided they want to remain in the news come what may. So this time, it’s the exclusion of the talented paceman Shanthakumaran Sreesanth that’s opened a whole new can of worms. Though the backlash over Sreesanth’s axing hasn’t been anywhere near as what happened when Sourav was shown the door – expectedly so, because Sreesanth is still a rising star and Keralites aren’t as cricket crazy as Kolkatans either – reactions from various sections of the Indian cricketing fraternity make it absolutely clear that the selectors have committed a major blunder.

Strangely enough, the shining Keralite has been included for the ongoing DLF Cup in Malaysia (the write-up was written when the series was still in progress) and then axed for the following Champions Trophy tournament to be held in India. How can a player be selected for one series and then be dropped for the next without performance in the previous series being taken into consideration? Further, he has not been part of the XI in both the matches held in Malaysia so far. Sreesanth has shown that he has a great fighting attitude, but nothing can be more disheartening for the youngster than to know that the selectors are playing around with his budding career.

This raises a big and very pertinent question – Is merit is the most important criterion for selection? Definitely not. Ask John Wright and the ex-Chairman of selectors, Kiran More, himself. These are two men when who have been closest to Indian cricket in the last half a decade and their take on Indian cricket gives one reason enough to believe that something’s rotten in the system. The discussion on the apathetic state of India’s cricket administration can go on endlessly. But it’s more important to bring up the issues of those who become the scapegoats of such unprofessional approaches, in this case Sreesanth.

According to one of the national selectors, Sreesanth’s elimination was purely on ‘cricketing reasons’ and that his exclusion did not merit a controversy. Sreesanth was left out because the team did not want more than four fast bowlers, added the selector. Fair enough, but on what basis do you drop one of the country’s premiere bowlers in the preceding series? (Ref – the Windies tour). His replacement R P Singh was picked because he performed exceptionally well for India ‘A’. R P is a good bowler in his own right, no doubt about that. In fact, R P Singh, VRV Singh, Munaf Patel and Sreesanth are the future of India’s pace attack. But, on current form and performance, Sreesanth deserves to supersede Singh in the national team.

After all, if R P has shone in ‘A’ grade cricket, Sreesanth has proved his ability on the international stage itself. His 10 wickets in the 3-match Test series against West Indies went a long way in helping India win the series. Not to forget, this was immediately after coming back from injury. And those who doubt his ability in the shorter version of the game, his 6/55 at Indore against England is proof of his genuine wicket-taking ability. Before Sreesanth, only three other Indian bowlers had taken a six-wicket haul in one-day cricket. What’s more, the Kerala speedster achieved this feat in his debut year in international cricket. If all these performances don’t count then, sorry to say, nothing will. And anyways, if R P Singh, was picked on the basis of his strong ‘A’ game performances, why is India’s one-time pace spearhead, Zaheer Khan, still languishing in the wilderness after a sensational stint in county cricket. The selectors will find it very hard to answer this question for sure.

Cricket is not always about numbers. After all, one bowler may trouble batsmen and his partner and the other end may end with better figures. It doesn’t make the performance of the former any less meritorious. What has instantly stood out during Sreesanth’s performance in his short stay with the Indian team is his ability to pose problems for the best of batsmen. Ask Brian Lara and, being an honest man, he wouldn’t hesitate to say yes. Also, his aggressive attitude is very refreshing and defines the changing face of Indian cricket.

Ironically, this is what the Indian selectors have held against him. At least the explanation given for his omission points to this factor. His economy rate of 5.71 may seem a bit too high but lets not forget that he’s played a mere 18 matches and is still learning the intricacies of one-day cricket. But even if economy is taken as a criterion, the others in the side aren’t miserly either. R P Singh himself conceded over 5 runs per over in one-day cricket and it’s not very different for the more experienced guys either. Irfan Pathan has an economy rate touching 5 while Agarkar is only slightly worse.

The bottom line is that with the inclusion of ‘Power Plays’ and other fielding innovations, life is getting more and more difficult for the bowlers with each passing season. In today day and age when 300 is being raked up as easily as a stroll in the park, it shouldn’t be considered a crime that bowlers are conceding over 5 runs a over. Times have indeed changed. Gone are the days when anything 4 runs per over was considered expensive. With everything against the bowlers in modern times, they need to be given some leeway. And the selectors must keep that in mind while picking a squad.

It’s all very well for coach Greg Chappell to say that Sreesanth would recover from this setback. But things don’t quite work out that way always. Especially when you have been eliminated unfairly. Amazingly, in Chappell’s own words, “Sreesanth is getting better every day in bowling, batting, fielding and even fitness.” Wonder if the selectors have made a note of that. Instead, they rewarded him by axing him. The decisions taken by the ‘so called’ selectors can have wide-ranging consequences – to the extent of making or break careers. But then is anybody bothered?

Sreesanth is still young and, with the never-say-die attitude that he has, should make a comeback into the side pretty soon. But one only hopes that his career doesn’t follow a parallel path to that of his numerous predecessors like Balaji, Zaheer, Nehra, Mohanty and his own statemate Tinu Yohannan among others. Because if that happens, Indian cricket would be the biggest loser and another name would be added to the never-ending list of India’s genuinely talented cricketers who couldn’t transform potential into performance. Period.

Sreesanth’s record so far

Tests – 5 matches, 19 wickets, Best Bowling - 4/70, Average - 29.78

ODIs- 18 matches, 24 wickets, Best Bowling- 6/55, Average- 36.20