Sri Lanka’s right-arm slow medium pacer Achini Kulasuriya didn’t do what India’s Deepti Sharma did a few weeks ago.
On Thursday, the 32-year old Achini had a chance to run out the non-striker batter Aliya Riaz, who had left the crease even before the second delivery of the last over of the Asia Cup Semi Final T-20 International match against Pakistan was bowled at Sylhet. But Achini avoided “mankading”.
Speaking exclusively over the telephone from Bangladesh, Achini Kulasuriya said, “I didn’t try to mankading because I just wanted to maintain the spirit of this great game of cricket. Yes, it was a crucial moment and the match could have gone either way. But I just keep faith in my ability”.
She even didn’t feel it necessary to warn the non-striker. “I kept focusing on the striker. As a fast bowler, it’s not that easy to do that. And also it’s something that makes me tired”.
Achini was asked to bowl the final over of the match. Was there pressure ? “I just looked at the faces of my teammates. They were keen to have this win, even myself. I was prepared for this kind of exciting finish situation. I felt no pressure. I just followed the batsmen”, she concluded.
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