Upul Tharanga is this the turning point?

Every cricketer goes through ups and downs in his career. Some of them come out of it successfully while the others who are not so fortunate simply fade away.

In the case of Upul Tharanga the recently concluded tour of Zimbabwe has been a blessing in disguise for him to re-launch his rather chequered career. Even Tharanga would not have thought in his wildest of dreams that he would one day be called upon to captain his country. His place in the one-day team was so uncertain that captaining the side was totally out of the question. But as things panned out Tharanga was trusted into that position by perhaps a quirk of fate. Both captain Angelo Mathews and his deputy Dinesh Chandimal were recovering from injuries and were not 100 percent fit to undertake the tour to Zimbabwe and the national selectors looking around for someone experienced enough picked on Tharanga who had some experience of leadership having captained his club NCC to win the Premier League championship in 2013-14 and also Ruhuna in the inter-provincial tournament.

Tharanga was first selected to add strength and experience to the Test batting line-up which was sans Mathews and Chandimal and following a successful series where he scored a century and a fifty and averaged 69, he was entrusted to the national captaincy by being asked to lead his country in the one-day tri-series that involved host Zimbabwe and West Indies.

On his first outing as ODI captain he led Sri Lanka to an eight-wicket win and although they fumbled in the next game against West Indies losing by 62 runs Sri Lanka bounced back to beat West Indies in the return match by a mere one run that secured their place in the final against Zimbabwe. The rest is history.

In his quite manner Tharanga showed his leadership qualities by getting his young team to rally around him and ultimately win the most coveted prize beating Zimbabwe in the final at Bulawayo. Nothing could have been sweeter for Tharanga than to make the winning hit – a six to finish the match off having completed a half-century off the previous ball with a four. His patchy 57 not out was not his best but it proved valuable to his side as they lost three early wickets for 42 runs chasing 161 for victory.

Rival skipper Graeme Cremer described Tharanga’s innings as, “Upul Tharanga struggled for the most part and ended up with an unconvincing, scratchy knock. But full credit to him for willing to grind it out and staying till the end, of course, nothing unconvincing about the last few shots.”

Tharanga on his debut as his country’s captain was ecstatic after the final, “I think it's a really happy moment. Full credit to the guys, they have done a really great job over the last two weeks. We knew we had to only get one good partnership. (Kusal) Mendis batted very well, and from there, it got easier and easier. Everybody has done a great job, we have found some new players who have put their hands up and performed well.

“Thanks to the support staff as well, they have done a good job. South Africa will be a tough series and we have to work hard.”

South Africa is going to be a different kettle of fish to handle. It won’t be easy as West Indies and Zimbabwe and Sri Lanka will require all the experience they have in their ranks to tackle the high riding Proteas who are fresh from a 2-1 series win in Australia. They performed that task without their best batsman AB de Villiers and best bowler Dale Steyn – both missing the series through injuries along with Morne Morkel. They are bound to be fit for the upcoming series against Sri Lanka who will also have Mathews and Chandimal back in their ranks. Nevertheless it will be a totally different challenge Sri Lanka will come up against – one that will separate the men from the boys.

Leading his country to win the tri-series would certainly be a feather in Tharanga’s cap and one hope that it will inspire him to cement a permanent place in the Test and ODI sides for the rest of his career. He is 31 and age is not on his side to once again go off the boil and make another comeback to the side. This is his most opportune moment and he should grab it with both hands.