Why Lanka loves beating ‘big brother’ India

Last week, Colombo wasn’t the place for Indian cricket’s backpackers, with or without laptops.

Last week, Colombo wasn’t the place for Indian cricket’s backpackers, with or without laptops. There were quite a few moaning budget tourists who had been promised they could ‘see Tendulkar overtake Lara’ in brochures floated by airlines, and only witnessed Sri Lanka’s biggest triumph at home.

To add to the trauma was the heightened security drills for the SAARC summit, with no door opening without belongings passing through scanners.

No auto trip was complete without flashing the media pass. Actually, that’s when the ordeal got worse. The word ‘Indian’ got smiles on stern faces in uniform while the suffix ‘sports journalist’ meant the dawn of a naughty smirk. Second lieutenant Mendis was unfailingly mentioned, as were sarcastic statements about the Indian middle-order.

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Not many around the cricket-crazy island buy the Indian revival theory that’s being floated around, the high of beating ‘Big Brother’ still evident. While back home, India-Sri Lanka contests don’t quite trigger passionate anticipation, things are different this side of the Palk Strait.

Speak to any cricketers cutting across generations here and they give great importance to performance against India. But somehow, the aggression or the tough posturing that might qualify India as arch rivals is missing.

There isn’t a pace bowler in Lanka’s top drawer who hasn’t visited the MRF Pace Foundation. Top domestic teams from Lanka are regular features in Indian tournaments like Buchi Babu, Sheesh Mahal and, lately, even the Duleep Trophy. School boys are shipped off to India when their coaches feel the need to give them exposure. Looking up to India is part of the growing up process for most cricketers here.

Ask Sri Lanka cricket CEO Duleep Mendis about the unusual rivalry between the two Asian nations he hits the nail on the head. “It starts with a junior being in awe of a cricketing nation in the neighbourhood. But gradually, as a cricketer grows, he starts thinking they can be beaten. And when it actually happens, it is a great feeling since it signals their arrival in the big league,” he says.

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And that quite explains the feeling among cricketers such as opener Malinda Warnapura, who talks of how his stint in India, playing Duleep Trophy, saw his career taking a U-turn.

With the cricketing bandwagon clearing Colombo for the politicians and moving to Galle, big brother will try hard to restore some order.