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Until it became public knowledge that Sri Lanka had dropped Muttiah Muralitharan and Chaminda Vaas from the side to face the defending champions Australia on Monday in the World Cup Super Eights match, an online betting outfit was offering around 3-2 odds on the latter winning this game.

The moment Mahela Jayawardene stunned the world on live television by revealing Sri Lanka’s decision to ‘rest’ their two star performers, this price plummeted to 5-4.

Sri Lanka’s excuse may be that they did it for tactical reasons, having already qualified for semifinals.

But when a squad deliberately weaken a playing XI by omitting their two best available bowlers (Lasith Malinga was, over and above, injured) in an advanced stage of a World Cup, it can only be stressed that a thin line divides such a strategy and a deliberate surrender of a match. It’s a shame and a scandal. Members of Sri Lankan party were probably aware of move to exclude Murali and Vaas from Sunday, as Tom Moody casually hinted at such a possibility in his press conference on that day. No media, it appears, cottoned on to precise meaning of his comments.

It was only when one put two and two together after captain’s post-toss TV interview that import of coach’s remarks fell into place.

It is not unfair to assume that not only members of Lankan team but people close to them were aware of impending changes reasonably in advance of them being made official.

Indeed, it is equally reasonable to imagine that such information could have — unwittingly or otherwise — filtered out to betting community through either a player or a friend or relative of his.

A punter privy to Murali and Vaas’ absence in match, would, arguably, have been tempted to invest a decent buck on an Australian win.

And such flutter would have fetched easy pickings of one and a half times the gamble.
Source:The News