By Dhammika Ratnaweera
Dream of every coach is about converting a skilled player to an exceptionally talented individual so that he achieved the best in his field of performance. Sri Lanka’s bowling sensation Lasith Malinga got his call to the national team soon after he was spotted by Sri Lanka’s one time paceman and coach turned Champaka Ramanayake, who is responsible for moulding the lad at national and international level for Malinga to finish his cricketing career as an all time legend of the sport.
“When player of your choice perform well at any sports, it is always a joy and a pride for the coach” said a rejoiced Champaka Ramanayaka, who is currently the bowling coach of the visiting Bangladesh side, against whom Malinga had his final match of an excellent ODI cricket career.
“Actually I am very proud to be Malinga’s coach at national level to expose him to the international game. Malinga is a very special bowler and he created many records in international cricket field” said Ramanayake, who claimed that he never met a such a dedicated individual before.
“He came to Colombo as a net bowler and I also got chance to bat against him. However I realized that it was very difficult to face his bowling as it was difficult to adjudge his bowling action” said Ramanayaka who added that when he saw Malinga at the age of 16, he noticed his unusual action at the point of delivery of the ball which added an extra speed and accuracy.
“Actually as a coach I never wanted to change his action and I think it is a good lesson for all the coaches too as some coaches try to change action of the bowlers and eventually their natural skills fades away with corrections” added Ramanayake.
Malinga had been spotted as a very special bowler with his slinger action which adds extra pace to his natural ability to control the ball very well with lot of variations had made him a dangerous bowler to face for any batsmen in the world.
He defended that Malinga’s decision to retire from 50 over game is very wise and timely, as he was well aware of his fitness levels and added that the bowler had got a few years of T20 cricket left with him for the future.
Ramanayake is of the view that Malinga could have played more matches for the country and accumulated close to 500 wickets under his belt, had he be given enough chances to represent national team. “He was sidelined for many unexplained reasons from the national team sighting his fitness levels. Malinga is a very dedicated individual and a good fighter, he always come up against his critics and challengers and made many a come back during his career.” said Ramanayake.
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