Mahela Jayawardene, as Sri Lanka’s captain in one day internationals, was expected to lead from the front.

But his miserable performance with the willow, against England, on home soil, the Commonwealth Bank Series, and in the Caribbean, was the bane of Sri Lanka’ batting.

When he fails, he sets in motion a Sri Lankan batting debacle. His lack of consistency, has been quite evident in recent encounters. To fall victim to a careless stroke, which he is often guilty of, in a crisis situation is in excusable. Against this backdrop, his position as captain of the ODIs is questionable.

The bottom line is that as skipper, many feel he does not get on well with the seniors in the team. One presumes he had a hand in the unjust treatment meted out to Marvan Atapattu and Sanath Jayasuriya.

Another case in point is the stance he adopted when Chaminda Vaas was given the vice captaincy. Vaas, realising his feelings, the gentlemen and sportsmen that he is, opted out of it.

The arrogant Mahela went a step further in dropping Vaas when he was on the brink of playing his 100th Test match.

This was the unkindest cut of all. That speaks volumes for his popularity with his team mates. In its wake, their is now a hue and cry to axe him from the captaincy of the one day international squad. If Sri Lanka’s selectors opt for it, I think it would be a step in the right direction.

Mahela should accept it in good faith, in the interest of Sri Lanka cricket.

As I conclude this article, I wish to mention that Sri Lanka’s poor performance in the recent of ODIs cannot be solely attributed to Mahela’s lack of form. In this context, vice captain Kumar Sangakkara showed a lack of consistency with the willow too.

Cricket is a team game, so the rest of the players, should take part of the blame.

Since Sri Lanka cricket is going through a period of transition, a change in the captaincy for the ODIs could be fruitful, in view of the 2011 World Cup.

Let’s hope that handing over the ODI captaincy to the popular Sangakkara, if it does happen, will not turn out to be a case of falling from the frying pan into the fire.