Top cricketers are known to collect bats and balls that they do well with, even run in to pick the stumps after a memorable win. But Thilan Samaraweera is one player who has a bullet for a souvenir, because he considers it lucky as it did not harm him much Senior.
What else is it but a positive approach that makes him say: “The bullet neither harmed a nerve nor a bone,” after taking six weeks to recuperate from an injury to his thigh when terrorists attacked the Sri Lankan team bus in Lahore?
It is difficult to say how it changed his approach because Samaraweera likes to brush aside the thought of it having anything to do with his batting. However, his emergence as a top class Test player, and now as a potential crisis man in One Day Internationals, has as much to do with his attitude as the prime form that he is in. “After Pakistan I thought I could never play cricket,” he admits, but hastens to add that the Pakistan tour actually changed him as a batsman.
“Once I got those two double-centuries, I began to play more strokes and that helped me regain a spot in the ODIs. My mindset changed and the runs in the recent Test matches against New Zealand too helped me make a new beginning in ODIs,” says Samaraweera, who got a match-winning 104 in the opening match of the Compaq tri-series.
From a batsman known more for his vigilance to one capable of free stroke-play has been a long journey, 11 years to be precise, because that was when he turned out for Sri Lanka for the first time in One Day Internationals. Failing to score even a half-century in his first 21 matches, he got his maiden century on Tuesday after being drafted into the side at the last minute .
This year has seen him score more than a thousand runs in Test cricket, but it has been an eventful journey for him with both high points and low. His batting has not left much to be desired, but the terrorist attack has been a dreadful experience that few sportspersons have gone through.
Samaraweera is as calm in his approach to batting as he is when he speaks, including about the incident in Pakistan, which came soon after he had got back-to-back double-centuries (231 in Karachi and 214 in Lahore) on the tour.
“There was a lot of pressure for me going into this match, but I am thankful to the team management for giving me the chance,” adds Samaraweera, who adds meat to the batting line-up ahead of the Champions Trophy.”
