Dear Sri Lankan Cricket Team,
During an era where shitty politics was an ice breaker at boring parties, where every news headline was about a number of soldiers killed by LTTE, where people were scared to go by public transport not knowing whether they will get down alive.... Sri Lankan Cricket happened... changing the lives of millions of people who had forgotten to celebrate a victory...
On this day 16 years ago, roads were empty, shops were closed, everybody were somewhere to watch the match which every Sri Lankan knew that will be a win. A heart beating, nail biting moment and with a ton of unbelievable level of confidence. The 17th March 1996 was a day when victory stood still and when champions were born... A fairytale was re created...
From Arjuna a fearless cool captain to Mahela the best captains with courageous breed of cricket have come a long way with ups, downs, disappointments, tears and smiles... Cricinfo become the home page to many pc’s, TVs are switched on in offices, crowd in front of every singer mega or abans and empty roads are proof to hopeful Sri Lankan hearts awaiting another fairytale...
After every match there are hundreds of status updates on facebook... We may give different opinions on how Mahela could have changed the bowlers, criticism on how upul tharanga could have batted, accusations on Malinga for match fixing, enormous love for Nuwan Kulasekara or hating Chamara Kapugedara for all its worth still display the belief we have towards a team we always loved... the hopes of winning another game with dignity just like we used to back in 1996...
Losing a match still can ruin our day, winning a match can still make us look like idiots smiling stupidly the next day after a thrilling win...you have been our source of inspiration for the past few decades, a reason to unite us as a nation, made us smile during some of our darkest days in history... we want you to win again & AGAIN like you did on a day like today 16 years ago... we want mind blowing batting, magical bowling, heart throbbing victories many more years to come...
It is okay to lose, but play with grace and dignity which will overshadow the win... we will still be there in the crowd filled with flags, blue t-shirts with bongos and drums, filled with off key baila singing, yelling till our throats taste blood to the last ball because for us its much more than just a game... Because it will convince us that Sri Lanka can be greater than what every politician promised, it will give us power to believe in belief which will defeat probabilities...
We demand fairytales everyday because we believe that you can do it again.... !!!
Awaiting another day like today, to celebrate as champions again,
from :
a fan who will never up ;)
