When the backup singer becomes the star

Tilan is a smart guy.

When he started his career he was an off spinner who batted a bit. Then Murali came along and he realised he was never going to get into the team.

So he needed to find another route and went about dusting off his bat from the kit bag.

Tilan Samaraweera is not the guy who gets the headlines.

He isn’t any one’s favorite player or the guy everyone waits eagerly to see bat. After a decent run at home around 2000/01, he kept getting picked for the team.

I was not a fan cuz he kept failing abroad and could put a horse to sleep.

This year has been different though.

No one’s scored more runs, has a better average or more hundreds.

The silver lining is the runs abroad. Everyone who didn’t like Tilan was always going on about how he didn’t travel well.

With An average of 70 away, Tilan finally seems to have turned the corner and put me and quite a few more people back in their place.

True its Bangladesh and West Indies, but fuck its a start.

And in a year when Dilshan,Chamara Silva and Prasanna made Glenn Mcgrath’s batting look acceptable, Tilain kept the middle order afloat.

When they needed him to hit the high pitched key, he sang to the tune of a 100 in the WI.

When they needed the deep low bass, he sang to the tune of a 90 in Bangladesh while carrying the tail.

Even his strike rate is up to 60 from his usual 42 this year.

Keep this up and this time next year you’ll be a super star.

4 Comments

  1. insideEdge said:

    At the start of his career Tilan was averaging around 70 albeit against weaker opposition. He had good technique and temperament even though his strike rate was low. Then he started having problems with the location of his off stump – I remember him losing it or getting LBW numerous times. Now he has worked on technique.

    The really smart thing he has done is increasing his strike rate. The guy had the shots but never used them. Now he has started to play shots without being too flash like Mahela or reckless like TM Dilshan. In the past, specially in overseas tests, he would occupy the crease a long time (maybe 100 balls) but only have 20-30 runs to show for it before getting out and the overall innings will be considered a failure. Now from the same occupation he is having double the score.

    December 28, 2008
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  2. jdgoal said:

    Thilan is probably is the most reliable batsmen in the current line-up after Sanga and Mahela, and unlike the other 2 he doesn’t play extravagant strokes so he’s less likely to get out.

    Always thought he should bat at no.4 and have Mahela bat after him, so that when there is a top order collapse, he would be there to steady the innings.

    December 28, 2008
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  3. damiths said:

    inside>I completely agree with the SR issue, which I also talked about in the post.

    He was pretty decent when he started batting in the top order and started scoring all those 100s at home.

    But he was so slow that the initiative gained from his 100s were not that much.

    I think he he can regularly bat with a SR of about 55-60 it would help SL out a bit.

    I remember that Aus series, he looked ok but 20,30s off quite a large number of deliveries, then he got out and the net result for the team was useless.

    December 28, 2008
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  4. damiths said:

    jdgoal> I think 5 is a good spot for him. However him at 4 and Mahela coming in after could be a good move so that he acts as the pivot for KS n Mahela.

    Without Tilan I think we would have been in a whole heap of shit this year.

    December 28, 2008
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