A politically divided Sri Lanka, will be united and one in heart and mind as the biggest cricket show on earth reaches its showdown time with millions in most continents watching it live on television. Will it be Sri Lanka versus India or New Zealand taking on Pakistan in Saturday’s ICC Cricket World Cup final? If not, will it be Sri Lanka having to battle Pakistan with India playing host? These are the questions that will be asked before the finalists book their places.
But whatever has to be said or asked, the purists cannot be expected to run away from the fact that cricket, whether it’s a World Cup or not, is not so much about sport anymore. Gone are the days when World Cup Cricket was played in the true spirit of sportsmanship apart from an occasional on-field hiccup and the environment was about people and players.
Sadly this World Cup, right or wrong, may have to overcome the ignominy of going down in history as one of the most lackluster international events where the military might of a country out-did its team creating a war-like environment.
We will however leave the complicated matters to the so-called experts and for the moment focus on the four teams that have struggled to come this far. Take the case of New Zealand and Pakistan. Few people gave them even a boundary-line chance and now here they are at the threshold of becoming the top two teams in world cricket. None of the teams came to be as psyched up as they were and their rivals today and tomorrow will have to play at their brilliant best to get into the final. Or will they, Pakistan and New Zealand oblige the pundits by falling at the post.
It is hard to imagine though that this would be the case from a team like Pakistan which have now proved they got five of the most effective wicket-taking bowlers and New Zealand which have got the most vibrant of fielders to stop any run machine.
There is no doubt that India with its powerful batting line-up numbering seven potential century makers would be difficult to beat. They have seldom had it so good .
But what of Sri Lanka? Unlike that bulldozing team of 1996, they have yet to be tested under the most trying situations which is the most vital requirement that makes a champion team. For Sri Lanka to win the World Cup from now on either their rivals will have to play badly or the individuals that keep the team afloat will have to continue rowing.
Sri Lanka’s performance against England can in no way be taken as champion stuff. The pitch would have been to their liking but the bowling they faced was mere schoolboy stuff to say the least. When Arjuna Ranatunga lifted the World Cup in 1996, in the presence of Pakistan’s then Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto, he was truly a champion with a champion team for whom national pride was the only motivating force.
Kumar Sangakkara and his team have been given the best of everything. There's no room for excuses.
0 comments:
Post a Comment