Rajapaksa takes the mickey out of Arthur

By Harsha Amarasinghe

Sri Lanka Twenty20 batsman Bhanuka Rajapaksa took a dig at Sri Lanka Head Coach Mickey Arthur and the overall selection policy in a staggering interview yesterday on a YouTube talk-show titled ‘Sports Pavilion.’

The dashing left-hander who has not been offered an annual contract by Sri Lanka Cricket (SLC) claims that he has been treated in an unfair manner.

“I have not been offered a contract by SLC. I don’t have regrets over that but it is shocking because we performed when we were given the opportunities and it is very unfair now we have not been given a contract,” Rajapaksa said in the interview conducted in Sinhala.

The former Royal College star batsman failed a fitness test a few weeks ago, but managed to reach the fitness standards in the second go within a few days.

“I don’t think it’s a fair decision to leave players out based on fitness. I am not saying it is not important, but fitness levels should be utilized to improve a player and not to look down on them. If a player gets injured of course fitness has something to do with it, but this only became a talking point during the South Africa tour when several players got injured. To be very honest, the players did not have much time to prepare for that because we just coming out of LPL – too much workload. Fitness is important, but then players should be given proper instruction on how the system works. For instance, give some months and if a player doesn’t reach the expected level, then of course go ahead and terminate the contract,” added Rajapaksa.

Rajapaksa then took a dig at head coach Mickey Arthur over a series of poor results.

“Sometimes, I have been informed to be prepared for tours and once I have everything ready, I’d get a call at the eleventh hour from the SLC claiming I can’t play because of excessive skin fold. This started since the arrival of the new coach. Based on the results, I think everyone can see if the coach has a plan or not,” BRC middle order batsman revealed.