The retirement of greats like Kumar Sangakkara and Mahela Jayawardene has definitely had its impact on Sri Lanka’s performances in all forms of the game. Once considered to be the subcontinent giants, Sri Lanka now has become the weakest team in Asia as even Bangladesh has well advanced leaving the Sri Lankans far behind.
In the aftermath of their retirements, Sri Lanka as a unit has performed only in glimpses. The inspiring win over India at Galle last year was an example of the potential which the youngsters had. However, all that potential fizzled out as the Indians made a stellar comeback win the series 2-1. Their displays in the T20 Asia Cup and World T20 to exhibit no confidence at all.
Defending his team’s performance, batsman Jehan Mubarak has said that Sri Lanka is a small nation, and finding replacements for greats like Jayawardene and Sangakkara will take time. “Every team goes through that after you have had good players play for a long time,” Mubarak said. “After such players leave, there is obviously going to be a transition. The better teams and better countries minimise that transition period to about one year, or two years maximum. We’re struggling a bit with that, mainly due to departures and injuries to some of our key players. So, it will take some time but we need to be a bit patient with them.”
Comparing Sri Lanka’s situation with India, Mubarak said, “I think India just has a bigger talent pool. You have a lot of players, a very well organized domestic structure. And with the IPL, youngsters get good exposure with international cricketers. I think that’s one key thing that helps India develop. Plus, there is a lot of interaction between the senior players, even your pioneer cricketers, and the young boys.”
“Sri Lanka will get there eventually but it will take us longer. We are still young as a cricketing nation. We don’t have that years and years of experienced cricketers who can come back into the system and set a system that will just generate talented cricketers,” the southpaw added.