After 2015 we have not built sides says Muralitharan

Muralitharan is disappointed that SLC has not built a talented cricketer like Avishka Fernando. 

Former Sri Lanka spinner and currently the ICC brand ambassador for its social cause with Unicef Muttiah Muralitharan said that after 2015 Sri Lanka haven’t built sides and that is why they are so inconsistent today.

“Champion sides are not made in one or two years, it’s a process,” said Muralitharan in a media interaction with journalists covering the Cricket World Cup in Pune.  ”Honestly speaking after 2015 we haven’t built sides because if a player fails, he goes out. A good example is Avishka Fernando. At the last World Cup, he got a hundred, but I am so disappointed that he is no more in this tournament. We have not built him. He has talent. Everyone will fail. In the 2003 World Cup Mahela Jayawardene in seven innings, he got only 21 runs. Did we drop him? No. So he became a legend. We have to give players a good opportunity and back them up, then only we can build.”

“Kalu (Romesh Kaluwitharana) and Sanath (Jayasuriya) started in 1989-90, then they were established in 1996-7. For seven years Arjuna (Ranatunga) kept them in the side giving them opportunities. Then only you can build players and build your team. Because of the patience Arjuna had at that time, we got 20 years of brilliant cricketers who came through. Now we have gone backwards.”

“We just want to make sure that we win one or two tournaments and keep changing players. When that happens the confidence of the player goes down and the new player who comes in is under pressure to perform. That has affected the team. You can’t blame the players because they try and work hard. At the end of the day others must also give them a good back up. That’s what we have lacked. That’s why we are inconsistent. The talent is there,” said Muralitharan, the world record holder for the greatest number of wickets in both Tests (800) and ODIs (534). – (ST)