COLOMBO: When Sunil Fernando chanced his eyes on Muttiah Muralitharan, he wasn’t even bowling off-breaks. He was more of a medium pacer who was stupefying his peers with his off-cutters with a jerky action. “He was turning the ball like a normal off-spinner and with some pace, and that too with a tennis ball,” he said.
Fernando instinctively wondered how effective he can be if he slows his pace and give the ball more flight. So he bought him under his wings, and urged him to cut his pace down. “The amount of turn he generated startled me. I haven’t seen any one that age (12) purchasing such turn. Immediately I was convinced that he’s a natural and let him evolve as he is. Instead of bringing him into my framework, I began to work in his framework. I didn’t meddle with his action, for I knew anything against nature would unsettle the boy, and instead I worked on aspects like flighting the ball and wrist position,” he said.
To not meddle with the nature or the natural embodies the Sri Lankan philosophy, an upshot of which is the bizarrely huge quantity of bowlers with unorthodox actions and modes of operations. “We won’t tamper with anything that is natural. We don’t make a conscious effort to correct their actions or make it unconventional. We let them do what they are most comfortable with. Of course, we correct if there’s some major flaws,” he said.
Even after Muralitharan joined the Tamil Union Cricket and Athletic Club, nobody felt the need to revamp or alter his action. “In Sri Lanka, it’s common to see such bowlers with what you call unorthodox action. But we don’t generally treat it like that. That was the case when Murali came here. He had lots of wickets for the school, as well as club, so we thought there was no need to change it,” recollected Dileepa Wickramasinghe, Muralitharan’s first captain at TUCC.
Lasith Malinga’s case was no different. Unlike Muralitharan, cricket found him rather late. He hadn’t bowled with a cricket ball until he was 15. He played mostly softball cricket, on the beaches of Rathgama. In softball cricket, you invariably have to sling it in to get pace and a low trajectory, which makes it all the more difficult for batsmen to spot his yorkers. “You change his technique, and make it more high arm or side on, he wouldn’t be able to bowl those yorkers at will and at pace. Once you realise the bowler has a unique technique, what you need to do is maximise his effectiveness. That’s what I did with Lasith. We worked a lot on his fitness, for his action puts a lot of strain on the ankles and hips,” said his childhood coach Lasith Chaminda. The unorthodox leanings can be attributed to the terrain of the country. Apart from Colombo, most of the places are either hilly or on beach side.
And Murali and Malinga aren’t just one-offs. Ajantha Mendis was another bowler with the cryptic halo around him, until he was deciphered threadbare. Now, they have Tharindu Kaushal, who has a unique side-arm action, and pacer Dushmantha Chameera, another slinger. But as the contrasting cases of Muralitharan and Mendis testify, it’s not just about being mysterious but also about constantly chiseling the unorthodoxy to perfection.