Dinesh Chandimal – His batting has pleasingly transformed

In a game that has been refined in to a new order down the years by big stage performers in that elite class of the super stars that has seen the batting genre take centre stage in modern cricket’s high stakes professionalism, Sri Lanka did take a conspicuous dip by the retirements of Mahela Jayawardene and Kumar Sangakkara. The duo were a bastion to Sri Lanka in the run making industry in filling in the shoes of a galaxy of super stars from Aravinda De Silva, Sanath Jayasuriya, Asanka Gurusinha, Marvan Atapattu and Tillekeratne Dilshan during the 1990 to 2000 era when the island nation’s cricket stood tall.

That the high tech enriched contemporary game has ballooned in a spell bounding super star grove that has set cricket alight in highly galvanizing top nation status where the giant nations hold sway, indeed, Sri Lanka’s cricketing crusade has craved for that rare genre that can swing a game around in next to no time. That Sri Lanka was nourished by the likes of Aravinda De Silva and Sanath Jayasuriya in to a run roaring era during their day is magnified by their history making batting exploits. Filling their void in a gallantry that saw Jayawardene and Sangakkara more often or not hunt in pairs was another sparkling chapter as the game kept evolving by the day by new inventions of run making; new inventions like the Dilscoop that Tillekeratne Dilshan breathed to the game in sending the ball sailing over the wicket-keeper’s head by so deft a gentle flick of the bat directed up and over the striker’s head. Perhaps, Dilshan did not fall in to the bracket of a Jayawardene or Sangakara, but that he brought to the game an appetite to tear up any bowling attack when in flow coupled with his trademark Dilscoop stroke certainly puts the former opening batsman in the super star genre.

It is in this super star philosophy of the game that it is opportune as Sri Lanka is but a few days away from this year’s June 1 to 18 Champions Trophy to touch on the value input that the country strives to enrich its batting ranks with super star batsmen. In that vein, it is indeed heartening to note an obvious evolvement in the batting of Dinesh Chandimal. The Ananda College, Colombo product, who arrived with a bang on the ODI big stage just over 6 years ago in 2010, did experienced the ups and downs in a career that saw him lose his way having being dropped for poor form on two occasions; the more recent being after a batting drought during the away South Africa tour.

The chief selector Sanath Jayasuriya, in axing him told Chandimal to play more club cricket to get his confidence back. Whether he took that advice or not, it has been a wholly transformed Dinesh Chandimal with the bat that we have seen perform of late. What has been significant about his stroke-play has been a marked maturity in concentration bordering on solidness of holding one end. The hitherto half-heartedness replaced by a workmanlike approach that has seen him touch the three figure mark several times. The Chandimal renaissance is a very reassuring factor to the batting department in a team rebuilding cycle fronted on new blood from Sri Lanka Cricket’s (SLC) stated youth fine-combing drive at the grassroots level to unearthing nothing but the best. At age 27 Dinesh Chandimal has pleasingly graduated to the next level that beckons a future great of the willow.

By Srian Obeyesekere

-The opinions expressed here are the views of the writer and do not necessarily reflect the views and opinions of Sri Lanka Cricket-