Cricket legends slam Sri Lankan team after 3-0 drubbing against India
What's the story?
Sri Lankan greats Sanath Jayasuriya and Arjuna Ranatunga have come out to say some harsh words about their home team after they suffered a comprehensive 3-0 whitewash against India in the Test series.
"It is very painful for me. Losing a home series is always tough and especially to lose in this fashion. We have done well against India at home over the years and we need to find a way out of this now. The players are down at the moment and we need to support them and give confidence," Jayasuriya said about the loss.
He also believes that the solution to this persisting crisis of Sri Lankan cricket will have to come from its players, more so than anyone else.
"It's up to them then to come up with answers and more importantly how fast can they come up with those answers. The coaching staff needs to come up with plans as to how we can address this issue," he added.
In case you didn't know...
Sri Lanka were defeated by a massive margin in all three Test matches of the series and they did not look ready for the competition throughout the same.
The Indians went about their business clinically and won two of the three Tests by an entire innings. It looked like Dinesh Chandimal's team was out of their comfort zone even before the competition began.
The details
Former Sri Lankan skipper Ranatunga believes that it is unfair to put the entire blame of the loss on the players, as they are already demoralized.
Furthermore, he said that the fault lies in the management of Sri Lankan cricket. Urging for a stronger selection process, he went ahead and demanded for the sacking of Thilanga Sumathipala, the current President of Sri Lanka Cricket.
What's next?
Sri Lanka are now set to play the limited-overs series against India that is set to commence on August 20.
It will be followed by a tour hosted by Pakistan, which will followed by a full-fledged tour of India again.
Author's take
The frustration and outrage from the Sri Lankan greats is completely justified considering the fact that the team has not even qualified for the ICC Cricket World Cup 2019 yet. It lost an ODI series to Zimbabwe at home before succumbing to this Test series loss against India.
Changes need to be made and implemented as soon as possible so as to curb the fall that Sri Lankan cricket finds itself in right now.