Atapattu preaches patience with impressive young stars

Marvan Atapattu

By Champika Fernando in Dubai

Former Sri Lanka Captain Marvan Atapattu says he was pleasantly surprised at the performance of the national team at the T20 World Cup and urged cricket authorities and fans to be patient as they are in a rebuilding process.

“To be honest, even I was surprised by the way they performed in the World Cup,” he said in a virtual discussion with some of the journalists covering the tournament in UAE. 

“I don’t think I have seen that kind of skill, attitude and morale from a Sri Lankan side in a long time. It started happening during the India series at home, then there was more improvement in the South Africa series that followed. That momentum continued."

Sri Lanka arrived here in UAE having to pass the qualifying round to earn an entry to the main draw. They did well, exiting that leg unbeaten before winning two of their Super 12 games against Bangladesh and West Indies. In between the wins, they were defeated soundly by Australia but went down fighting in thrillers against South Africa and much-fancied England.

“What we saw was a lot of positives," Atapattu said. 

"We have utility players, solid batsmen, good fielders and bowlers with a bit of mystery aspect. So, we have got most bases covered. But we have to be patient."

“Simply because we won five games in the World Cup, we are not going to win the next two Test matches, especially away from home," he warned. 

"We need to categorise players: which player is going to play what format and in which conditions. That’s important. Look at England, Australia and India. Their combination is different for different formats. We tend to pick players who do well in T-20 cricket to play Test cricket and vice-versa. It’s not fair on the player either for he will struggle to adjust. There are players who can do that, no doubt about it. Players who can adjust to all three formats are there. But there are also players who need some time to settle in."

Atapattu is excited by the talents of Charith Asalanka and Pathum Nissanka who, he says, have a good foundation and technique. 

“That’s the most important thing," he pointed out. 

"Apart from that, they have some additional factors to improvise and innovate when it comes to T-20 cricket. They are smart lads, especially Charith. The decisions he takes, which ball to hit, which side to target, that’s pretty clever."

Asalanka and Nissanka were prolific with the bat, scoring 231 and 221 respectively during the tournament. Atapattu, who was Sri Lanka’s Head Coach briefly in the 2014-2015 period before resigning in mid-2015, believes that by employing desperate measures to replace retired seniors, Sri Lanka had engineered a steady downfall.

“We did not believe in building a team,” he said, analysing reasons for Sri Lanka's failure post-2015 World Cup when greats like Kumar Sangakkara, Mahela Jayawardena and T.M. Dilshan retired, leaving a gaping hole. 

“Once our seniors were out, we expected too much from the rest of the team. We panicked and took desperate measures like appointing too many coaches, too many captains, too many players and too many managers. So, we kept doing this and our downfall was steady. We did not look to rebuild on players who had a good base."

Since 2015, Sri Lanka has had seven coaches, including interim appointments, with only the current coach Mickey Arthur set to complete a full term. They also had unprecedented 12 captains during the same period, contributing to a steep decline that saw Sri Lanka’s international rankings across formats crumbling.  

Commenting on the weakness shown by Sri Lankan batters against spin, something that was visible even during the World Cup, Marvan said Sri Lankans aren’t getting their basics right.

“You either go to the pitch of the ball or you go on the back foot, wait till the ball turns and then play,” he explained. 

“You cannot play spin half-heartedly. It’s a matter of time before you are exposed. Aravinda (de Silva) had an interesting theory. Don’t play the same spinner for six balls. If you take Arjuna, when he is struggling to play spin, very smartly he taps the ball to a vacant area and gets the single. Then if Sanath is in the other end, he will smash the ball for a six to take the pressure off. Now the spinner has forgotten that he is bowling to a different batsman and he will be smashed. This is psychology. You have got to be street-smart playing spin."

Similarly, he says players have developed new skills to play spin. The ‘Dil-scoop’ is a perfect example of street-smart cricket, stated Marvan. 

“I can tell a player this is how you play the sweep, where to get your head, where to get your body position, whether you come forward or go on the back foot," Marvan asserted. 

"It is the player’s skills after some time to develop that into a reverse sweep. That’s not in the coaching manuals but something that is unique to you. (David) Warner plays the reverse sweep differently and (Glenn) Maxwell plays it differently. Nobody taught (T.M.) Dilshan to play the scoop. That’s the confidence he had. That’s un-coachable."

He suggests tapping the brains of Waruna Waragoda—a brilliant first-class cricketer who never played for Sri Lanka – to learn the art of playing spin. He is now a national cricket selector.

“Waruna Waragoda is the best player of spin bowling I have seen," Marvan said. 

"He is the best man you can tap to pick his brains. I actually asked him to come and help the team on how to play spin when I was coach. But he is a reserved kind of guy and he politely turned it down. He has some amazing tips on playing spin. He had learned the art from Stanley Jayasinghe. Basically, to play spin, you have to have good foot movement. What most players do right now is to sweep against spin. It’s a high risk shot. You don’t take a risk for one run. That’s what they taught me when I was small. Don’t take a risk for one run. These are basics."