{"id":48145,"date":"2016-08-30T03:48:36","date_gmt":"2016-08-30T07:48:36","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/dbsjeyaraj.com\/dbsj\/?p=48145"},"modified":"2016-08-30T03:48:36","modified_gmt":"2016-08-30T07:48:36","slug":"tillakaratne-dilshan-reveals-bottled-up-secrets-about-how-senior-cricketers-and-coaches-did-not-support-him-during-18-month-captaincy","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dbsjeyaraj.com\/dbsj\/?p=48145","title":{"rendered":"Tillakaratne Dilshan Reveals Bottled up Secrets About How Senior Cricketers and Coaches Did not Support him During 18 month Captaincy."},"content":{"rendered":"

By Anjana Kaluarachchi in Dambulla<\/strong><\/p>\n

On the day of his ODI retirement on Sunday (28) at Dambulla, Tillakaratne Dilshan kept the promise he made in 2012, (the time when he was forced to resign from the captaincy), by revealing some secrets he had kept bottled up throughout the next few years. He said he did not have the support of senior cricketers, or at least of coaches, during his 10-month tenure as captain.<\/p>\n

Dilshan was named captain after Kumar Sangakkara stepped down following the World Cup loss. Sri Lanka played 11 Tests during that period \u2013 against England, Pakistan and South Africa away, and Australia at home – and lost seven of them while securing the only Test win in South Africa.
\n“I was really hurt. I played well throughout the tour even though I had a lot of problems. I learned a lot during that time and the youngsters know that,” said Dilshan.<\/p>\n

\u00abI didn\u203at actually plan to take over the captaincy, but the SLC President asked me to take over for six months until we find someone else. Unfortunately, we had also lost two bowlers. Murali [Muttiah Muralitharan] had retired. Nuwan Kulasekara was injured. Ajantha Mendis was injured. I didn\u203at have great resources,” added Dilshan.<\/p>\n

Dilshan also chuckled when he said that Angelo Mathews had a calf injury which prevented him from bowling for a year, and miraculously recovered just as Mahela Jayawardene took over the captaincy once again after him in 2012.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Angelo’s injury
\n“Angelo Mathews had a calf injury for a year that stopped him from bowling. That must be because of my misfortune, because after I had stepped down, a week later we went to Australia. In that week Mathews started bowling. That must be because of Mahela’s good fortune,” said Dilshan.<\/p>\n

Mathews did bowl during the time but had a reduced workload compared to his other matches. He did not bowl in nine out of 20 ODIs under Dilshan, and even in the matches he bowled it was not more than five overs.<\/p>\n

And his workload had increased after 2012! In Tests he did not bowl in 12 out of the 16 innings. This wasn’t the first time Angelo suffered an injury, as he was injured and couldn’t play in the 2011 World Cup final under Kumar Sangakkara.<\/p>\n

Nevertheless, Dilshan said he put aside all those issues and gave his best under new Captain Jayawardene.<\/p>\n

Man of the Series<\/strong><\/p>\n

“At the end of that South Africa series, I put everything aside. I went to Australia, scored 500 runs (513 at an average of 51.30), and became Man of the Series. It didn’t matter to me who was captain. I wasn’t concerned about who ousted me as captain. I always play for my country. I didn’t worry about those personal things, but I was hurt,” said Dilshan.<\/p>\n

Dilshan broke his finger during his match saving 193 at Lord’s in his second Test match as captain and said there was no one to take over for the next Test match.<\/p>\n

No one to captain<\/strong><\/p>\n

“Actually there wasn’t anyone who was willing to be captain. Everyone resigned after the 2011 World Cup. In England a ball hit my hand and I broke my finger, and some of the former captains were asked to lead (for third Test), but they refused. After that there was a discussion and it was suggested someone like Sanath Jayasuriya or Thilina Kandamby should be made captain. It was then that someone presented himself to be captain (Kumar Sangakkara). But I guess there’s no point talking about those past things anymore,” said Dilshan, who clearly seemed disappointed about all those past dramas.<\/p>\n

Nevertheless, Dilshan said he can be proud of what he had achieved throughout his career.<\/p>\n

“I am proud that it is players that I brought into the team at that time who are winning matches now. About six or seven of the players today are cricketers whom I’d given a chance to. At that time it was a problem for me, because people asked me why I was giving young players so many opportunities. But today, we should look at players like Dinesh Chandimal.”<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, Dilshan also said he didn’t plan to retire at the start of the series, though he announced it after the second ODI.<\/p>\n

“I hadn’t planned to retire, before the series. Whether someone tells me to keep playing or stop playing, that’s not what’s important. What is important is what I feel. I started the series thinking that I’ll play for another year – at least in T20 cricket. But when I woke up on the 25th I felt that it was time to go.”<\/p>\n

Still fit to play<\/strong><\/p>\n

“To be honest I could easily play for another year or two. But we have to look to the future. If I play for another two years and leave, there’s only 18 months before the next World Cup and that’s unfair to the team. A young player could be blooded in that time. Since I started opening six years ago, we haven’t found a permanent partner for me. I’ve opened with about 10 players – so that’s a problem for us. If I keep playing we won’t be able to get two batsmen settled in that place,” said Dilshan, who further added that we may see him in domestic cricket for a while longer after his retirement.<\/p>\n

However, Dilshan said he has no plans of undertaking any coaching role in the future, while adding he has no plans about coming to politics yet. Dilshan’s last outing for the Sri Lankan Team will be during the last T20 against Australia in Colombo.<\/p>\n

Courtesy>Ceylon Today<\/em><\/p>\n

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By Anjana Kaluarachchi in Dambulla On the day of his ODI retirement on Sunday (28) at Dambulla, Tillakaratne Dilshan kept the promise he made in 2012, (the time when he was forced to resign from the captaincy), by revealing some secrets he had kept bottled up throughout the next few years. He said he did …<\/p>\n

Continue reading ‘Tillakaratne Dilshan Reveals Bottled up Secrets About How Senior Cricketers and Coaches Did not Support him During 18 month Captaincy.’ »<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[12],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dbsjeyaraj.com\/dbsj\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/48145"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dbsjeyaraj.com\/dbsj\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dbsjeyaraj.com\/dbsj\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dbsjeyaraj.com\/dbsj\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dbsjeyaraj.com\/dbsj\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=48145"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/dbsjeyaraj.com\/dbsj\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/48145\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":48146,"href":"https:\/\/dbsjeyaraj.com\/dbsj\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/48145\/revisions\/48146"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dbsjeyaraj.com\/dbsj\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=48145"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dbsjeyaraj.com\/dbsj\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=48145"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dbsjeyaraj.com\/dbsj\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=48145"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}