Sri Lankan fans on Twitter slam Upul Tharanga as his poor form continues

Sri Lanka’s senior batsman Upul Tharanga is fast becoming a big headache for the team management. He is looking like the pale shadow of the man that had starred for Sri Lanka in the 2011 World Cup, helping them reach the final of the competition. It has been over a year or so since the southpaw played any significant knock of substance. He recently had to play for Sri Lanka A against Ireland A to earn a recall for the ongoing series in South Africa but has failed to capitalise on the chance.

He scored last of his 15 ODI centuries way back in 2017 when he reached the three-figure mark against Pakistan while his last fifty came over a year ago during the tour of Bangladesh in January last year. The last couple of years have been forgettable for Tharanga. In the last two year or so, he lost his ODI captaincy, took a break from Test cricket but nothing has helped him regain his form. In fact, he has not scored more than 36 in any of his last nine innings and is now in grave danger of losing his place again.

In the first match of the ongoing series, he managed to score just 9 as South Africa thrashed the visitors by eight wickets. And the Sri Lankan team-management immediately dropped their experienced batsman for the second and third ODI. The decision, nonetheless, made no difference as the Proteas went on to win both the games to take an unassailable three nil lead in the series. With the series gone, Sri Lanka recalled Tharanga in the playing eleven perhaps to give him a couple of games so that he can find back his mojo ahead of the World Cup.

However, the southpaw failed miserably once again. He lasted just 5 balls, hitting one four before being sent back by Dale Steyn as he failed to justify the faith shown in him once again. And his latest failure has only invited more criticism on Twitter.

Here are some of the reactions after Tharanga’s failure: