Mahela now has time to read theflyslip

So Mahela quit, or is quitting. Soon.

A lot of people are wondering how we got here. Jrod included.

A barrage of articles are being written about the timing of the resignation, all positive.

Of course Mahela’s excuse as to why he quit – to help the new captain coming in to have enough time to get ready for the world cup is rather far fetched.

The real reasons are

– his form

– SLs ODI form

– the media witch hunt and political pressure from the IPL issue.

– the sports minister and selectors finally had enough and were ready to chop heads.

The sad thing about those 4 reasons are that the first 2 are something he could have improved.

Mahela was always just one or two fielders short in the ring for everyone to hail him as the aggressor he was Pre-2007 WC.

He was too classy a batsmen to have had his form nose dive for too long.

His personal form caused a huge dent in how the team went.

In the end the pressure from outside the boundary started to affect what went on inside it.

And finally Mahela was stuck in one of those cartoon scene where he is in the middle of two brick walls closing in on him.

Something had to give.

There were talks from the sports minister about dropping the captain if it was necessary to make the team better.

Mahela probably felt the trigger was about to be pulled.

Either way his record makes a handy resume.

15 test wins in 26 matches.

57 ODI wins in 97.

Pretty impressive.

But Mahela’s story is of two captains.

One,we all loved, who led us to the WC final. Aggressive, with intent and brimming with confidence.

The other the complete opposite, Post- WC 07, un assured, negative and uninspirational.

Imagine how things would have been if everything stayed the same.

Personally I think its a bit daft. He was still the right mean to lead SL, and if he had at least one thing to cling onto, his own form, a successful team, then this post would never have happened.

We leave you with this.

If you guys recall, I invited you to send in a few questions so I can send to Mahela during my interview to get them answered for you. I picked a few and this is what he said.

1.  Tell us abt playing under Yuvraj (Kings XI) –  from BCC! (Bored Cricket Crazy Indians blog)

Playing for the Kings XI was fun fullstop. We had a great set-up with Tom Moody as coach and the franchise owners were very supportive. Yuvraj was an aggressive captain and I learnt some things from him during those few weeks.

2. How influential was Tom Moody in shaping your captaincy- from inside edge, a regular at flyslip

Tom was very influential. He gave me a lot of confidence at the start and guidance throughout. He allowed me to lead the team and was always supportive. I am very grateful for the help, advice, support he gave me.

3. Does Mahela have any specific career goals? from Kumar, flyslip reader

I don’t have any personal career goals, but I would love to win Test series in England, Australia and South Africa and would also like to help win the 2011 World Cup.

4. How did you meet your wife? – from Deane, flyslip reader

Friends introduced us at a party in Colombo.