Sri Lanka captain Kusal Mendis was found wanting yet again, this time at a post-match Press conference in Bangladesh after his team won the T20 series 2-1 and had to be bailed out by his assistant coach Naveed Nawaz.
Mendis was asked the question whether his team was still haunted by the hangover of the 2023 World Cup incident where his team-mate Angelo Matthews was timed out without facing a ball against Bangladesh.
But Mendis unable to elaborate or express himself in English looked towards Nawaz in an apparent gesture that it was more difficult to face Press questioning than be at the crease.
“Someone only doing it. I don’t know why. Everyone can celebrate own things. We are not doing that, everyone celebrating everyone happy,” was Mendis’ reply.
Link to video interview found on YouTube
Post-match media conference | Kusal Mendis & Naveed Nawaz, Sri Lanka | 3rd T20i (youtube.com)
He was responding to a question by a Bangladesh reporter on why Mattews had showed his wrist to a Bangladesh player who was dismissed in a timed-out gesture.
However, Nawaz obliged both Mendis and the Press in a comprehensive manner saying Sri Lanka had moved on and that both teams maintained friendly relations off the field.
“I think we have moved on. It (timed out gesture) was a celebration and it was misunderstood at that time. It happened during the heat of the game and I think both teams have moved on.
“As players they are all friendly outside the boundary line. If you can cross the boundary line and be good to one another, then that is what we expect,” said Nawaz.
Mendis was more comfortable after the issue was clarified by Nawaz and instead showered praise on fast bowler Nuwan Thushara who struck like a thunderbolt from the blues with three wickets in three balls and turned tables in favour of Sri Lanka in the third T20 that his team needed to win and wrap up the series.
“Nuwan Thushara took a hat-trick and changed the game. He is the best bowler we have right now,” said Mendis whose team is presently down 0-1 in the three-match ODI series.
Perhaps it may be in the best interest of SLC that a translator is used in future to save skipper Kusal Mendis of any such embarrassment or ridicule when post-match briefings are conducted in English.
Many other nations have opted in taking that approach, especially when the interviewee is not fluent in conversing in English.
