ARAVINDA - The Shah of Sharjah

By Brother Baptist Croos, FSC

Saturday 19, April 1997


Hail to the Shah of Sharjah, who master-minded the Singer Akai Cup victory! Aravinda was majestic and magnificent, courageous and commanding in the cricket-field of Sharjah and proved to all of us that there is grandeur in gentleness. He wasn't the swashbuckling hero of an earlier match against Pakistan when he powered his way through for a scintillating 137; when he dominated and dictated; pummelled and punished the wavering bowlers hitting them all over the field, onto the stand and over the fence and sending the weary fielders leather-hunting. It was quite a different mould of Aravinda at the finals; cool and calculating; sober and sedate; gentle and graceful. He patiently endured and won the Singer Akai Cup for Sri Lanka. Aravinda de Silva has once again, left his indelible footprints on the sands of Sharjah!

Hats off to the gracious losers. Pakistanis are gallant warriors, fearless fighters and it is more than a thrill to play against them. There are always the agonies and the ecstasies, the ding-dong battles, the cliff hangers and exciting finishes.

I greatly admire the Pakistanis for their proverbial spirit of ''fighting back,'' giving the opponents no respite until the last ball of the final over, and providing the spectators a lot of entertainment, fun, anxiety and excitement. Therefore, to have won a nerve-racking thriller against them is indeed a remarkable achievement. Aravinda must be having bones of iron and nerves of steel, otherwise how would one expect a person to stand there with a brave front, when other famous stars had fallen by the wayside, when the entire stadium erupts in exhilaration, with deafening noise, shrills and shrieks, with cacophonic music producing minor earthquakes that ought to be measured on a seismograph rather than on a Richter's scale.

Even when Aravinda was called upon to receive the ''Man of the match'' and ''Man of the series'' awards, he was as cool as a cucumber, unruffled and unperturbed. Serene as ever he walked to the podium to receive those prestigious awards in an unostentatious manner. While felicitating Aravinda, it is right and just to congratulate our new coach Bruce Yardley.

Captain Arjuna, the best fielder Roshan Mahanama, the best bowler Muthiah Muralitharan and others who contributed immensely towards this momentous victory.

''Success must never go to the head, success must go to the heart,'' goes a wise old saying. Success going to the head, had seen many a head roll, a possible victory fritted away to an ignominious defeat adding insult to injury and leaving the field in abject humiliation.

Whereas, success going to the heart will make the players put their heads down and face reality. It will make them vigilant and watchful, play the game with professionalism and pragmatism; and not for the sake of merely playing the game.

It wasn't the ferocious fours and sixes that won the match for us; it was the steady one's and two's so persistently and painstakingly accumulated that eventually assured us of a nail-biting finish and a modest victory.

At one stage, as we say, it was ''touch and go'' especially during the last over, anything could have happened. The ''never-say-die'' Pakistanis could have clinched the trophy if our players hadn't measured up to the enormous task of ''playing it cool and playing it safe,'' thus carving a historic win - the first ever, over Pakistan at the finals at Sharjah! Well done the shah of Sharjah and his retinue.


Source: The Daily News

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Date-stamped : 25 Feb1998 - 15:05