The Hindu : Roy Dias: an immense joy to watch

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Friday, Apr 05, 2002

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Sport - Cricket

Roy Dias: an immense joy to watch

By P. K. Ajith Kumar

THALASSERY APRIL 3. Roy Dias drove the first ball he faced from the boy through extra cover for four. He thought the school kid was trying to be too smart, as he was bowling with just two men on the off. He played the same shot the next ball.

``And I was bowled,'' the stylish Sri Lankan batsman of yesteryears told The Hindu here the other night with a sheepish smile. The bowler who tried to be too smart was Muttiah Muralitharan.

Dias was speaking a few hours before leaving for Colombo, after playing in Arjuna Ranatunga's XI against Srikkanth's India XI at the Municipal Stadium to mark the 200th year of cricket in this northern Kerala town. "I knew that very moment that the boy was a special talent,'' he said.

Muralitharan went on to exceed all expectations and is now threatening to be the world's leading wicket-taker in Tests. Dias is very happy for him, and he feels a bit frustrated that people are talking about his action once again. "I am disappointed by Bishen Singh Bedi's recent remarks,'' he says.

"It's very unfortunate that the criticism has come from someone close to Sri Lanka, and I've always admired Bedi as one of the greatest left-arm spinners I ever came across. I can imagine how hurt Murali would be. Because if Sunil Gavaskar says that I wasn't technically correct I would be very hurt. I don't know if Bedi has really said all those things; I hope he hasn't said that.''

Continues Dais, "I don't know why they are raking up the controversy now. Lanka is due to tour England, and then to Australia. Look at the timing. I was there as the team's coach when he was called by Roy Emerson in Australia in the 1998-99 season. At that time the team stood by him, and Ranatunga deserves special mention for the way he supported him. I just told Murali, `the team is with you, and the umpire is crazy.' We have won the battle.''

Dias feels the current Lankan side stands a very good chance to win the next World Cup in South Africa next year. "I think the team is playing better cricket than it did in 1995,'' said the man who was one of the selectors that picked Ranatunga's World-Cup winning side in 1996. "And I am impressed by the way Sanath Jayasuriya has shaped up as a captain. Stephen Fleming and Nasser Hussain are also maturing as good skippers.''

What about India's Sourav Ganguly?

``I think he's doing a good job, the best he can. You have to give him time,'' said Dias, who is enjoying his cricket these days a coach. He will return to Nepal next month, after helping the team put up a sensational display at the under-19 World Cup in New Zealand recently. "Nepal beat Pakistan and lost the plate final against Zimbabwe. The team won six of the eight matches. I hope Nepal would play in the World Cup in 2011. Though I had an offer from Bangladesh, I thought I owed something to Nepal.''

He doesn't hide his disappointment, though, at being ignored by his own country. He trained Lanka for 15 months, culminating with the disappointing World Cup in England in 1999 ("but nobody remembers the first 14 months when we won the series against New Zealand after losing the first Test and beat England in the Oval Test'').

``Now they say I'm too old,'' he sighs.

None of the 10,000-odd people who watched him bat in Sunday's match may agree with that assessment, though. They had a glimpse of his vintage batting as he played some delectable drives on the off before he was stumped by Syed Kirmani off Karson Ghavri for 28.

"I enjoyed my batting here today before such a nice crowd, and it felt great playing against Dilip Vengsarkar, Jimmy Amarnath and Kirmani once again,'' says he.

He has no doubts in his mind that Sachin Tendulkar is the world's most complete batsman. "As a coach, if I want to give someone an example of correct batsmanship, I always recommend Sachin. He's such a marvellous player, and he I feel he is like Viv Richards of my era.''

Dias, who was all class, is one of the 11 proud men who took on Keith Fletcher's strong side which included Ian Botham, Bob Willis and David Gower in Sri Lanka's first ever Test, in Colombo, in 1982. Willis dismissed him for a duck in the first innings, but in the second, he stroked magnificently on his way to 77, the top score by a Lankan batsman.

He went on to make 1285 runs in 20 Tests for an average of 36.71 with three hundreds before he played his last Test against New Zealand in 1986/87. He also scored 1573 runs in 58 one-day internationals with two centuries and 11 half-centuries.

And he gave immense joy to everyone who watched him make those runs.

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