Pathum Nissanka and media

Sri Lankan cricket enthusiasts were thrilled recently when the new find of the national test team, Pathum Nissanka, finally found his way in to the side and justified his selection by scoring a century on debut against the West Indies. 

Why the selectors took so long to give him the nod, despite some impressive scores in domestic cricket consistently, begs an answer.  

Pathum thus becomes the fourth Sri Lakan test cricketer to reach that unforgettable milestone. Most cricket enthusiasts didn’t know that Pathum is the first debutant to score a century overseas on debut for Sri Lanka.

Social and print media carried quite a lot of news about Pathum, with some digging into his humble beginnings. Chapters were about his parents, what they did to earn a living, as well as who supported this young cricketer financially. That a funeral undertaker had assisted Pathum financially too had been given publicity in an article written by one well-known sports journalist, who had added some humour to it. In his article that writer had discussed the nature of employment of the father of another young cricketer.

Cricketing circles felt that sports journalists should confine their writing to the performance of the players on the field and not the nature of employment of their parents. Wouldn’t it be sufficient to say that the players had humble beginnings?

In the case of Pathum, he is a rough gemstone which had to be cut and polished to make it shine brighter. Let us hope that the coaching staff and cricket administrators would assist this youngster to perform consistently in the future too. 

Nimal Luxshman