July 26, 2009

The long and short of Chaminda Vaas.

Vaas, much like the pitch he bowled on, both packed up after an uneventful 5 days. If Vaas’ return was a surprise, then his retirement was anything but that. Why, all along I thought he had already retired. But as is the case with Jayasuriya, you can never tell who’s in, who’s out – at times I have trouble telling what format Sanath plays, ODIs, IPL, right –no tests for him too? And then, if Lanka has trouble fixing the hole on top, no surprises if they bring back the opener for all seasons.

But let’s stay with Vaas, the boy with the long name and a short ball. At some point in the late 1990s-early 2000s, he unearthed the short ball, and sussed out Saurav Ganguly. Vaas had figured out what made Saurav hop, skip, jump – short, and just around middle and off – and Saurav was anything but God on the offside, the ball ballooned to point or some little helper at hand.

It’s not important how many times Vaas prised out Saurav, what’s significant is how he had him by the short and…from then on, at least for me, Saurav was a marked man. The word got around, Saurav didn’t – and I almost expected Vaas to always knock Saurav out.

In short, that’s Warnakulasuriya Patabendige Ushantha Joseph Chaminda Vaas for me.

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