Sri Lanka’s new cricket team selection committee has been hit into a corner to retain one of the most appallingly undisciplined players, Kusal Mendis, as the captain of the team for the home series against Zimbabwe that commenced yesterday.
With even his menial public conduct brought into question after he smashed the glass door of a rival club Bloomfield at a domestic match last week, Mendis had tactically nothing to prove as a team leader on the field at the 2023 World Cup other than being at the helm because the official captain Dasun Shanaka could not score runs and was left out or thought to be injured.
But with sport also unable to ring in the changes in the country, Mendis received the nod much to the dismay of the new team selection committee headed by Upul Tharanga whose other members are Tharanga Paranavithana, Indika de Saram, Ajantha Mendis and Dilruwan Perera, all ex-Sri Lanka cricketers with no known cases of blemish against their names.
“Dasun Shanaka was not among the runs and was not scoring. So we thought we will go with Kusal Mendis”, head selector Upul Tharanga said when he was asked by the correspondent of the international news agency AFP Amal Jayasinghe to explain why Mendis was preferred in place of Shanaka.
It was crystal clear Tharanga and his fellow selectors were hit into an embarrassing scenario at their first assignment and maiden appearance in front of the Press as a collective unit.
“Discipline is very important, especially the conduct of a captain is important,” said Tharanga.
“We are awaiting the Report and the matter is in the hands of SLC (Sri Lanka Cricket) and SSC (Sinhalese Sports Club)”.
Mendis is an ambassador for the Sinhalese Sports Club, a once elite club associated with men of high integrity.
