(This article by The Island’s respected cricket columnist Rohan Wijeyaratne first appeared in these pages 16 years ago; on the 11th of June 2005. As World Cup winning former captain and current Prime Minister of Pakistan Imran Khan has just visited the island, we reproduce this article in today’s edition)

In my youth – which is to say, quite a long time ago – I would often go to the YMCA canteen for a snack and a tea after whatever business that brought me to the Fort. Doing the same recently more for old times sake than anything else, I saw a familiar figure ahead of me heading in the same direction. Quickening my step and drawing abreast, I introduced myself to the gentleman concerned. He was none other than my old school English teacher, V. Thanabalasingham.

Not just a teacher, but an Institution

Those of you who may have passed through the portals of Ananda College during the 1960s and the early 70s and no doubt been well rounded in many ways, will admit to a man that when it came to the teaching of English, the name Thanabalasingham held no peer. In his prime, he was not just a brilliant teacher but an Institution. And volumes wouldn’t suffice to do him justice – such was the impact he made on all whom he touched, be it with the brilliance of Thackeray, Dickens, Chaucer or the Direct Method English Course that served as our bread and butter in English education at the time.

Another, from a different mould

Another teacher from an entirely different mould was Upali Ratnayake, now the Executive Director of CIMA. At the time he was introduced to us at the ‘A’ level stage, he appeared to our free spirits a cut above the rest. He acquired this status by doing exactly the opposite of what he was expected to do, which was to teach us English as a preparatory step towards an easier passage through University. Upali Ratnayake actually taught us nothing. Yet we learnt a good deal off him, discussing almost everything other than the subject he was paid for! His most endearing virtue was that he never spoke to us from a great height. And in that process, he taught us one of the most lasting lessons in life.

Several decades later, I nearly fell off my chair to receive a phone call from him inviting me to the BMICH on the 28th of May where Imran Khan and Kumar Sangakkara were due to speak at the CIMA Global Leaders Summit. The topics for discussion were “Passion for Perfection” and “Ordinary people in extraordinary acts.” The topics and the speakers seemed irresistible. And so I went.

What a speech!

I wasn’t disappointed. Neither were hundreds of others present. And predictably, Imran stole the show. Blessed with a presence that would have put any Grecian god to second class status, this tall, elegant and immensely handsome man spoke with such brilliance, clarity and articulation, the end result was as gripping as it was inspiring. In his wake, those who followed appeared cumbersome and dreary, almost like how Kenny Mackay would appear after the brilliance of a vintage Sobers or a Dexter! Kumar Sangakkara having to make do with less time than was his rightful share went largely unheard, tending to speak more to his fellow panelists than his audience. He will learn. As a probable hot contender to the top post after Atapattu, there will be many more occasions where he will be required to speak in public.

“Ambition must be upgraded, never downgraded”

Imran was of the view that all humans were endowed with limitless potential. Their limits if any, were often self imposed. Those who achieved extraordinary heights were those who dared to go beyond their self imposed limits. They thought big, dreamed big and did not allow their limitations to get in the way of achieving their dreams. He drew parallels from his own experiences in cricket, his cancer hospital project and his involvement in national politics to establish the point.

The four secrets

Starting with cricket, and drawing parallels with other legends including Zaheer Abbas, Imran stressed the need for a clear vision, the hunger to succeed, the willingness to sacrifice and self belief as being the four secrets to achieve one’s vision. Self belief was a factor which Abbas, despite all his God given gifts, had in very short supply. Imran, on the other hand, was full of it (sometimes foolishly!), because he never thought he ever could lose a game each time he stepped on to a cricket field. He gave many examples of it, including the victories against the might of the ‘invincible’ West Indians in 1986 against all odds. And that, despite having requested and got, ‘neutral’ umpires in a home series in Pakistan! He just wanted to make sure that when they won, there would be none to say that the umpires had anything to do with it!

Drawing from examples of his own life, Imran said that in all one’s life, one would hear others say why something cannot be done. That if accepted, would be the start of everyone’s downward spiral. Ambition he said, must be upgraded, never downgraded. And the more you pit your mind against the winds that resist you from reaching your ambition, the stronger your mind will become. Therefore, ambition must take precedence over everything. And towards achieving that, one should be willing to sacrifice anything. “Compromise” said Imran “for your vision, but never ever on your vision.” Great words!

Why the 3rd world is the 3rd world!

Relating what made him take to politics, Imran said that the problem with the third world was that the ruling elite would put itself above the law and deprive the ordinary folk of any justice. Hence his political movement was primarily meant to establish the rule of law in his country, where the weak and the strong were equal in the eyes of the law. “No society in the history of mankind has ever progressed without the rule of the law. The reason why the third world remained the third world was because it had very poor rule of the law. The elitist types did whatever they wished and got away with it, while the common man and the small and medium industrialist were all deprived of justice.” None could have spoken a truer word!

The ways of the mafia

Imran went on to say that when fighting for the rule of Law, one would be pitted against entrenched vested interests; the most powerful elite in the country. These were those who could buy justice. In Imran’s case, these were men who were also his good friends. Yet he preferred to take on the mantle of a social pariah instead, preferring to stand steadfast to his vision. The mafia usually reacts in such situations in either of two ways. They would either eliminate you or make you join the system. Just five months after his party was formed, he was offered 30 seats in Parliament out of 270. Imran refused, because he realized he had no chance of winning against entrenched political families that controlled his country. He knew the moment he joined them, he would need to compromise with his vision. So he refused, and got wiped out at the elections.

Refusing the Prime Ministership of Pakistan

When General Musharaff took over with Pakistan’s fourth military dictatorship in its brief history, he made all the right noises such as ridding the country of “sham” democracy and so on. No sooner Musharaff formed his own party, Imran was yet again invited, this time to become the Prime Minister of Pakistan. “But when I discovered that joining his coalition meant joining the biggest crooks in the country,” he had no difficulty in refusing. He was chided for his decision by many who argued that he could have joined and then fixed things up. But Imran said the decision was easy to make, as his vision was very clear. And it was one’s vision that decided when to compromise and when not to.

Imran’s vision

Imran’s vision was an independent and credible judicial system in Pakistan. So he asked himself the question, could General Musharaff afford an independent judiciary? The answer to him was obvious. If such a judicial system prevailed, most of the powerful men in his country would be tried for treason under article six of the country’s constitution. The sentence for treason was death. And he was therefore convinced that neither Musharaff, nor those around him could afford an independent and credible judicial system. And so, with his firm “No” Imran watched his party being destroyed yet again, to one seat, in parliament. This time it was by General Musharaff himself.

(To be continued tomorrow)

SSC Open Ranking Tennis

Thehan Wijemanne, Kavisha Ratnayake, Vibuda Wijebandara, Savith Weerasinghe, Kiran Viravanathan, Archana Lokuge advanced to the men’s singles third round at the SSC Open Ranking tennis tournament on Tuesday.

Some of the leading players fighting to improve on their impressive performances produced at the Tennis  Nationals and the Colombo Championships during recent weeks knocked out their opponents easily to secure third round places.

by Rex Clementine

You can see why some of the finest brains in our cricket are pushing for Tom Moody to be Director of Cricket. Moody is pretty good at spotting talent and once he picks a player, he backs him no matter what. He has this ability to convince all concerned – selectors, board, captain, media and even fans that someone is worth investing on. Upul Tharanga was one such. What a start he had to his career. The elegant left-handed batsman announced his retirement from cricket yesterday. His 6941 runs in ODI cricket is the most by a current Sri Lankan batsman. Only seven other Sri Lankans scored more runs than him.

Tharanga hails from Ambalangoda and made his First Class debut at the age of 15 for his native Singha Sports Club. Later he moved to Colombo and represented NCC with whom he has stayed for 18 seasons now and could go on for a few more.

No Sri Lankan player had the impact that Upul Tharanga had in the first year of his international career as he scored hundreds in places like Christchurch, Lord’s, Leeds, Ahmedabad, Mohali and Bogra. Tharanga’s ability to excel in tough conditions was hailed as a hallmark of a player who would go onto make a big impact in the game. Moody’s theory was that anyone who scores runs overseas is going to be a vital cog in the wheel.

But Tharanga didn’t go onto have a prolific career and should have averaged more than 33. When The Island met Moody a few years ago when he had landed in Colombo on a commentary assignment, he pointed out that leaving Tharanga out of the side was a blunder. He went onto add that once you identify talent you needed to persevere with them giving them assurance that they are being well looked after.

Tharanga was so pleasing to the eye like most left-handers. There have been hundreds scored by him when he did not score a single boundary in the on-side. In fact, the on-side was used only to rotate the strike. The boundaries came through exquisite cover drives, powerful cut shots and the occasional straight drive.

Viv Richards’ favourite opposition was England. So was Upul’s as he averaged 48 against them. Some of his knocks against England attacks had a telling impact on the game – like during the quarter-final of the ICC Cricket World Cup in 2011 at RPS.

England were so horrible in one-day cricket those days. They managed only 229 in their 50 overs batting first. Sri Lanka responded by chasing down the target without losing a wicket with more than ten overs to spare. That was some beating. Both Tharanga and T.M. Dilshan finished with unbeaten hundreds.

When Sri Lanka completed a 5-0 whitewash in England in 2006, Tharanga scored two hundreds in the series. One at Lord’s and the other at Leeds. The second one was special as this was the game that completed the 5-0 drubbing. England had posted a highly competitive 321 batting first and were confident they could avoid the humiliation of a whitewash at home. But Tharanga and Sanath Jayasuriya were devastating that day adding 286 runs for the opening wicket in some 191 balls. Sri Lanka won with 12 overs to spare and so brutal was the attack that Kabir Ali and Vikram Solanki never played for England again.

Tharanga also had a brief spell as Sri Lanka’s captain and unselfishly went lower down the order to accommodate young players top of the order. His stint was troubled by slow over rate offences with allegations emerging that a senior fast bowler slowed down the over rate deliberately in order to get the captain suspended. Crooks are everywhere in cricket. Poor Tharanga suffered in silence. He was a gentleman par excellence.