Sri Lankan cricket fans cheer for their national cricket team at their arrival in Colombo on April 3, 2011. Sri Lanka lost to India by six wickets in a thrilling World Cup final on April 2, in Mumbai. Sri Lanka captain Kumar Sangakkara has warned that his team need to overcome their showpiece stagefright if they are ever to win another World Cup after a third shattering loss in a major final. - Getty Image
by N.S.Venkataraman
(April 03, Chennai, Sri Lanka Guardian) While SriLanka lost the final match in the world cup, it gained enormously by way of support and understanding from millions of cricket fans around the world. The quality of character and resilience exhibited by the Srilankan cricketers during the entire tournament is praiseworthy and admirable.
Compared to countries like Australia, India, England, West indies , Sri Lanka was a late entrant in the international cricket scenario. A few decades back, the only opportunity for the Sri Lankan cricketers to play big tournaments was the Gopalan trophy matches that used to take place in Chennai (earlier known as Madras) every year. From nowhere, Sri Lankan cricket rose like a colossus challenging all the cricketing nations.
Unfortunately, in countries like India, Pakistan and Sri Lanka cricket is given more than its due. Many people in these countries seem to think as if the country has lost its prestige when losing matches particularly in such international tournaments. The frenzy generated in India by cricket tournaments and the tendency to look at leading cricket players as demi Gods show a level of immaturity and over reaction that is unwarranted. Certainly, cricket fans in countries like Australia and England react with much more sober and dignified manner in viewing victories and defeats.
While Sri Lanka has lost the match, the citizens of Sri Lanka should avoid an attitude as if it has lost everything. It has really lost nothing but gained enormously by way of respectability and admiration from cricket fans and general public all over the world for their conduct and behaviour on the field and off the field particularly , the senior players like Muthiah Muralidharan, Jayawardene and Sangakara have shown the right quality of attitude and made themselves role models for the younger generation.
Sri Lanka as a country has been going though enormous stress and difficult times during the last few decades. There is now simmering hope that peace would ultimately return and create a right climate where the Sri Lankans would rise upto their potential level and lift the nation to great heights.
In achieving this task, the SriLankan cricketers have created a right climate and atmosphere for the country to move ahead from the point of view of attitude and approach to the problems and challenges ahead.
The fact is that, inspite of all cricket euphoria around, Sri Lanka still face severe problems due to economic disparities and social challenges. The right lessons from Sri Lanka’s challenge in the ICC world cup tournament should be learnt , which is the fact that unity and dedicated and disciplined efforts can take Sri Lanka to great heights.
Let the cricket euphoria in Sri Lanka calm down and let this great country move ahead with disciplined and dedicated efforts.
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