Sri Lanka fans call cricket as 'mental healing' amid phase of crisis

Amid the economic crisis that Sri Lanka is going through, which has prompted long queues to buy cooking gas, fuel, and work and school compromised due to a lack of public transportation facilities, the sport of cricket has been a refreshing distraction for the Sri Lankans. The island nation in South Asia is experiencing one of its worst economic crises in recent times, as the people face a great shortage in supply of food, medicine, and fuel.

The universities and schools have been shut down under the government’s orders, while the fuel supply has been capped. Ujith Nilantha, a cricket fan who watched the first Test match between Sri Lanka and Australia in Galle with his son, said that people have become poor and helpless and have been leading a monotonous life. He shared that while there is no happiness for children and cannot provide what they need, cricket has brought “mental healing”.

“Yes, there is a problem in the country – people have become poor and helpless with all kinds of problems. We have been living a monotonous life and sometimes spent five, six, seven days in fuel lines,” Nilantha was quoted as saying by Aljazeera.

We only have cricket in times of sadness: Nilantha

“There is no happiness for children, and we can’t provide what the child needs. When we watch this (cricket) it brings mental healing,” said Nilantha. “We love cricket but we can’t spend all our time on cricket, with the employment problems and all of that. But I expect to get some relief from the pressures by watching cricket.” 

Nilantha also said that he had planned to recommend his son to play cricket, which changed after the country was hit by the crisis. “We only have cricket in times of sadness. We come here to watch cricket to get it off our minds,” added Nilantha.

The first Test match between Sri Lanka and Australia was played between June 29 and July 1, which the visitors won. The second and final Test match will begin on July 8. Australia previously won the T20I series on tour and the hosts won the ODI series.