Seniors’ refusal to tour Pakistan has been a blessing in disguise for us, says SLC Secretary
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Mohan de Silva, the honorary Secretary of Sri Lanka Cricket, believes that the Sri Lankan youngsters have benefited a lot from their tour of Pakistan. Absence of senior players gave the young players a stage to prove their talent and Sri Lanka whitewashed Pakistan in their own den in the T20Is.
Many Sri Lankan seniors refused to tour Pakistan owing to the terrorist attacks on the Sri Lankan team 10 years ago. But the Sri Lankan board sent a relatively young team with many new names to tour Pakistan for the ODI and T20I series. They lost the ODI series 2-0 to Pakistan and were instantly written-off as a B team. But the T20s had something different in store for them. Their young starlets showed lots of promise and match-winning ability as Pakistan suffered an unexpected whitewash at home.
“It has been a blessing in disguise for us that some of the senior players didn’t want to go as that gave the opportunity to these guys who grabbed it with both hands,” said Mohan to a correspondent from Colombo representing Dawn.
Mohan always believed that there was enough domestic talent in Sri Lanka to provide squad depth and the absence of stalwarts like Angelo Mathews and Lasith Malinga gave a chance to the upcoming young talents to express themselves on the world stage.
“Now some of the senior players will find it very difficult to get into the side,” he added.
Mohan had visited Pakistan during the ODI series and was very happy with the kind of security that was given to the Sri Lankan team. He also added that the arrangements were really fabulous as promised by the Pakistan Cricket Board. He also touched upon the possibility of Sri Lanka touring Pakistan for a test series later this year.
“With regards to the Test series, we will have to look at the players availability as there is still some time, but I am quite positive about it,” he signed off.
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