Biswajit JhaSri Lankan middle-order batsman Thilan Samaraweera is probably the most under-rated Test batsman of recent times. At a time when flashy and flamboyant players are ruling the roost in world cricket, batsmen like Samaraweera are rare commodities.
A well organized batsman, Samaraweera set the cricket field on fire when he scored two back to back double centuries in Pakistan a couple of months ago. Though his achievements in that series was marred by the terrorist attack on the Sri Lankan team bus, Samaraweera, who himself was hit by bullet in his leg along with some of his colleagues, heralded his arrival as a force to be reckoned with, in the Test arena.
He is one of the few Sri Lankan batsmen who have managed to keep an average of more than fifty, after playing over fifty Tests. In Tests, a batsman averaging fifty is considered a very good batsman, if not the greatest. In 53 Tests, this Sri Lankan middle-order bat has over 3500 runs to his credit, with ten hundreds, including two double tons, and nineteen fifties.
But, as it has happened with some players, Samaraweera’s achievements are rarely highlighted and he remains under the shadow of some of the illustrious batsmen of his team-Kumar Sangakkara, Sanath Jayasuriya and Mahela Jayawardene or the spin wizard Muralitharan.
In that sense he is like Rahul Dravid of the Indian cricket team. Like him, Dravid, despite being the best Test batsman of his side, always played a second fiddle to his more famous team members consisting of Sachin Tendulkar, Sourav Ganguly, Yuvraj Singh or VVS Laxman.
In the last 12 Tests, Samaraweera hammered two double tons against Pakistan and two big hundreds against the touring New Zealand side with an astonishing average of over hundred and crossed 1000 runs in this calendar year. Though he is not the most talked about Sri Lankan player of recent times, his value to the side is enormous. His presence in the batting line-up consisting of stroke-makers like Jawawardene, Jayasuriya, Dilshan, Kapugedera, Chamara Silva gives Sri Lankan side a sense of serenity and solidity which is absolutely essential for the success of a team.
The success Sri Lanka has got in the past couple of years, both at home and abroad, is owed to the matured and resilient batting of this right-hand middle order batsman. His valiant 125 in Port of Spain against West Indies came under immense pressure and at a time when most of his teammates failed to withstand the fiery pace of the West Indian fast bowlers.
Though he started his career way back in 2001 against India with a bang, scoring an unbeaten ton in Colombo, his responsibility, at that time, was more of an all-rounder’s, scoring some valuable runs in the lower middle-order, especially when the team was in a crunch situation, a role Hashan Tillakaratne used to play for the Lankans a decade ago, and lending support to master spinner Muralitharan with his line and length off-spin. But he naturally emerged as a solid Test batsman around whom the whole Sri Lankan batting order revolves.
A batsman, who started his career as a bits and pieces cricketer for ODI cricket, his emergence as a solid middle-order bat in Tests is nothing but a miracle. His life came a full circle when, from a player only suited for the shorter format, he was pigeonholed as a ‘Test Cricketer’, not getting enough opportunity in ODIs, let alone T20s. From the time he has entered international cricket, he could only play 21 ODIs with moderate success.
However, his Test performances in the recent times have forced the selectors not to ignore him for the ODI squad for Champions Trophy. It’s anybody’s guess whether he will be able to shed away the tag of ‘Test Cricketer’ by playing smart cricket in ODIs. Knowing the man’s resilience and dogged spirit, one can hope that he will able to cement his place in the Lankan ODI squad, too, in the coming days.
