×

Sri Lanka have bigger problems than debating which team Muttiah Muralitharan should or should not coach

Muttiah Muralitharan was appointed Australia's bowling consultant ahead of the Test series against Sri Lanka, which he has reportedly quit, after row with SLC.

Related articles

Muttiah Muralitharan has a world record 800 Test wickets to his name © Getty Images
Muttiah Muralitharan has a world record 800 Test wickets to his name © Getty Images

“Sri Lanka are a team going through a transitional phase” – is something we have been hearing for some time now. After legends, Kumar Sangakkara and Mahela Jayawardene bid farewell, Sri Lanka have struggled to get going in the last few series. Sangakkara and Jayawardene are the two leading run-scorers for them, and the current team does not have anyone even close to their stature. Also with the uncertainty looming over their premier fast bowler Lasith Malinga’s return, their struggle in the limited-overs too seems to be far from over. Many new faces emerging in the team are yet to get the hang of international cricket. FULL CRICKET SCORECARD: Sri Lanka vs Australia, 1st Test at Pallekele

With already plenty of problems to find solutions to, Sri Lanka Cricket (SLC) then decide to poke Muttiah Muralitharan – someone who has retired from the game ages ago and has brought the country lots of laurels in his time. Muralitharan’s crime: He chose to coach Australian bowlers and not Sri Lanka. Muralitharan would have perhaps taken up the role had he been asked. But SLC seem to be happy with Roger Wijesuriya as their spin bowling coach.

And more importantly, who he coaches is none of the board’s concerns. We have had instances in the recent past when Michael Hussey was working as a batting consultant for South Africa; S Sriram was the bowling consultant of the Australian A team on their tour to India. We never heard murmurs from either the Australian or the Indian Board questioning its former players about coaching their rivals then. READ: Muralitharan steps down as AUS bowling consultant: Reports

SLC however did not do wrong by lodging an official complaint with Cricket Australia (CA) on the grounds for A.- Berating Sri Lanka team manager Charith Senanayake, and B. Conducting a training session for Australian players without prior permission. SLC could have stopped at this.

But no, they had to play the nationalism card. SLC President Thilanga Sumathipala, who is also the Deputy Speaker of the Sri Lankan Parliament went on to say that he and some fellow “MPs” were hurt by the fact that Muralitharan chose to coach Australia over Sri Lanka. I don’t know much about the political scenario in Sri Lanka, but a cricketer will never openly come out and say that his teammates are hurt by some of the decisions taken in the Parliament. Sumathipala must decide whether he is making these statements as a politician or as the board president. Either way, he has no business in deciding what people not contracted with SLC should do. READ: Sangakkara: Muralitharan free to coach anyone

Muralitharan in his playing days too has been through a lot of controversies. He was banned from bowling in international cricket on more than one occasion and has comeback strongly. He made his country proud then and his 800 Test wickets record is a corroboration to that. A record that might not be broken for years to come. It is just painful to see someone within his nation’s board questioning his loyalty to the country.

This is what happens when politicians rule a cricketing board. BCCI too has many politicians running the board. But with the recent Lodha Committee recommendations coming into play soon, there might a few politicians walking away. Sri Lanka too perhaps needs something like this and soon!

Even Sri Lanka’s selector Sangakkara has backed Muralitharan in this case, saying that he is free to coach whoever he wants. Guess that is the difference between a cricketer and a politician running cricketing affairs in the country.

SLC and everyone involved with the Sri Lanka cricket team must look for solutions as to how to improve the performances of the national team. They need not get themselves involved in matters that do not have anything to do with them.

(Pramod Ananth is a reporter at Cricketcountry.com. He is a sport enthusiast and a keen observer of cricket, the contests, and its personalities. When not tracking cricket, he follows the world’s soccer leagues and is somewhat partial towards Liverpool. His Twitter handle is @pramz)

trending this week