Wanindu Hasaranga conundrum

by Rex Clementine

When your star player gets suspended twice within a month, that’s not ideal. When he is your captain, you have serious problems to deal with. We are talking about Wanindu Hasaranga here, whose constant altercations with match officials have landed him in trouble.

First he took on local umpire Lyndon Hannibal for not calling a high full toss no ball in the third T-20 International against Afghanistan. He was charged for dissent, pleaded guilty and was suspended for two games. That resulted in him being left out for the first two T-20 Internationals and Charith Asalanka debuted as captain in Bangladesh. He proved to be a level-headed leader.  A need of the hour.

Then in the third ODI against Bangladesh before he was carted all over the park, he got into another altercation with Bangladeshi umpire Tanvir Ahmed. This time the umpire had turned down a leg before shout. The Sri Lankans reviewed and it was an umpire’s call.

The Sri Lankans felt Rishad Hossain had been let off. Rightly so. They had all the reasons to be upset with the decision for Rishad turned the game on its head smashing 48 off 18 balls. Not only did the game slip away from Sri Lanka but they lost the series too.

You do feel for Hasaranga and the Sri Lankans. Umpire Richard Kettleborough was unwell which meant that local umpire Tanvir Ahmed had to replace him. A few decisions had cost the Sri Lankans dearly that night. Pathum Nissanka had been given out wrongly. A decision the batsman did not review.

Bangladesh coach Chandika Hathurusinghe may have used the playing conditions to his side’s advantage when he applied for concussion substitute and the appeal for Soumya Sarkar to be replaced by Tanzid Hasan was granted.

So how did Hathurusingha asking for concussion substitute help Bangladesh? Well, it was a hot day in Chittagong and Sarkar had fielded for 49 overs when Sri Lanka were batting. Fatigue could have got the better of him when it was Bangladesh’s chance to chase. Tanzid meanwhile was fresh and top scored during the run chase with 84 runs.

Sri Lanka were bemused. How can you apply for concussion substitute for injury not related to the head?

Sri Lanka had quite a few axes to grind with the way things were going for them during the series. But does that mean that Hasaranga is allowed to behave the way he did?

Apparently, the player used the four-letter word at the umpire. The umpire too responded with a jibe. He made matters worse for the Sri Lankans by charging the player for dissent after the game. Hathurusinghe, allegedly, told the local umpires to charge the bowler.

These teams will meet each other during the T-20 World Cup and Bangladesh wouldn’t want to play against Hasaranga.

The moment Hasaranga pleaded guilty, he was staring down the barrel facing a suspension of four white ball games as it was his second suspension.

The night he was charged, the Test squad was named and Hasaranga was in it. This fueled speculation that Hasaranga was drafted into the Test squad in order to help him to serve the ban during the Test series. Sitting out a Test match is equal to two white ball games and when Wanindu misses out both Tests, he has served his suspension and will be fully available for the World Cup.

Some have claimed that this was  a clever move by the team management. Some have criticized the move saying that loopholes in the system had been exploited. However, the fact remains that Hasaranga had written to SLC CEO Ashley de Silva making himself available for selection in Test cricket long before he got into trouble in Chittagong. He had last year retired from Tests after being overlooked for the longer format of the game by the previous selectors on numerous occasions. New selectors and change of heart from Hasaranga.

Interestingly, Hasaranga had not played a First-Class game for more than a year now. Whether the selectors would have named him in the squad soon after he came out of retirement in normal circumstances is a question for debate.

However, what is not in debate is successive Sri Lankan teams exploiting the escape clauses to their benefit.

There was the famous captaincy switch in 2012 during the World T-20. Captain Mahela Jayawardene was facing suspension for slow over rate and Sri Lanka introduced Kumar Sangakkara as captain saving MJ from a suspension for the knockouts.

Eventually, the ICC had to alter playing conditions after the incident. Hasaranga incident also will make them to sit down and chat.

What is not acceptable though is you doing all these stuff conveniently and suddenly waking up from a slumber and accusing others for trying to take advantage of the system or existing laws those have inadequacies. Suddenly, the Sri Lankans become the guardians of Spirit of Cricket.

If you exploit the system, you’ll find others following suit too. At that point you should not be shedding crocodile tears pleading for fair play. That’s where Sri Lanka have got things horribly wrong. They have failed to take things on the chin and move on.

As for Hasaranga, he is a champion player. He has won Sri Lanka a lot of games single-handedly and he’s going to do the same moving forward. But he needs to calm down. His constant run-ins with match officials is unacceptable. Sri Lanka do not want a situation where their best player is sitting out of important games due to discipline issues.

Here’s the other point. He has become a bit of a troublemaker taking on the umpires but is he going to take other authorities too to task. You certainly do not want a situation where he is constantly berating selectors, coaching staff, administration and even own teammates. This is an opportunity for people to nip things in the bud and not let things get out of hand.

Your best player doesn’t need to be your captain always. Lasith Malinga was an outstanding bowler but was a lousy captain. Sachin Tendulkar is the greatest batsman this generation has seen, but his two stints as captain of India weren’t so great. Similarly, Brian Lara, was a class act with the bat but hopeless as a captain.

Hasaranga is certainly Sri Lanka’s biggest star at the moment in white ball cricket. But is he your best choice as captain? Yes, he won the Lanka Premier League last year and not many people gave his side a chance. But should that have been the only reason to hand him the T-20 captaincy? Hadn’t we groomed Charith Asalanka from a young age for captaincy? These are some of the questions that need to be answered.