The captain would have been on very shaky ground had
Sri Lankan collapsed to 50 all out in an Asia Cup final at any other stage in
their history. especially considering that in his previous 11 innings, he only
recorded two double-digit scores.
“Dasun works so hard on his game,” Sri Lanka
head coach Chris Silverwood said on Sunday. “And as we know he’s a great
man. So from my point of view we’re just trying to put confidence into him. We
know what he’s capable of. He can be a very destructive batter, and we’ve seen
in this tournament that he’s more than a useful bowler. So for me he’s one
score away from flying again,” he said speaking after Sunday’s Asia Cup
final.
“There’s more to being the captain than just
scoring runs. Dasun is very good at it. He has the respect of everyone in the
dressing room. He understands the players and shows them a lot of love and
support as well. And that love and support is returned to him as well. But he’s
not alone in there. He’s got a lot of support in that dressing room.”
Early in 2021, Shanaka assumed control. With a new
selection committee under the direction of Pramodya Wickramasinghe and
encouragement from the now-defunct technical advisory committee led by Aravinda
de Silva, Sri Lanka’s white-ball teams underwent a youth-driven overhaul that
culminated in the most unlikely of Asia Cup victories in 2022.
Even while that victory may have raised inflated hopes
for the T20 World Cup later that year, it’s difficult to deny that this team is
headed in the right path following another Asia Cup final, this time in ODIs.
The setbacks thus far have just so happened to be extremely severe.
With 23 victories in 39 ODIs, Sri Lanka’s win
percentage under Shanaka’s captaincy is 58%. How does that measure up to
previous administrations? The longest in recent memory is, of course,
Jayawardene’s, who won 71 of his 129 games (55% win rate). In 45 games, Kumar
Sangakkara had the best win percentage, reaching 60%. As a captain, Angelo
Mathews won 49 of his 106 ODIs (46%). Therefore, Shanaka is typically expected,
and even if you include Sri Lanka’s heyday from 2007 to 2014, their ODI victory
rate was 52%.
In spite of that 52%, Sri Lanka advanced far in almost
every major competition between 2007 and 2014, culminating in the World T20
victory in 2014. Why then do the Sri Lankan team’s feelings seem so much worse
than they did in the past? Simply simply, the competition has improved.
However, things aren’t nearly as bad as they seem.
Simply put, it just feels that way in comparison. At one point, Sri Lanka was
capable of competing head-to-head in big events with the top teams. It hurts
that they are currently unable to do the same and that they are being left
behind.
Then perhaps it’s time to relearn to love Sri Lanka
for what it’s attempting to be rather than long for what it formerly was.