The 23-year-old right arm off spinner, Ajantha Mendis who took the cricketing world by storm, with his mesmerizing spin made a fairytale entry into international cricket. I need not focus on his remarkable achievements in the infancy of his cricketing career.

His phenomenal feats, in the Asia Cup, where he came into the limelight and in the three Test series and 5 ODIs against the Indians on home soil, where he made a mockery of the cram of India’s world class batsmen is history.

Hardly had he walked out of the cricketing arena, honour and glory came his way. He was awarded the ICC award for the Emerging Player of the Year. He did not receive it on a platter. He had to go beyond world class players, such as England’s Stuart Broad, India’s Ishant Sharma and South Africa’s Morne Morkel, to reach his goal.

Ajantha is gifted with immense talent and he will attain greater heights, as he matures. While Ajantha was basking in his glory, the same could be said of the Lankan’s skipper Mahela and his team mates, who brought honour to the country when the Sri Lankan cricket team won the Spirit of Cricket award for the second consecutive year. It was a feather in the cap for the calm and cool headed master batsmen Mahela Jayawardena, for having led by example to win this prestigious award. The Lankans did maintain the spirit and true traditions of this glorious game, regarded as a Gentlemen’s game when out in the middle. The Lankan cricketers do play the game hard, with a desire to win, but do not resort to some sledging to antagonize their opponents, an art in which the Aussies specialize in.

In this noble game of cricket, it’s not whether you won or lose that matters, as long as you play up, play up, and played the game. That’s what this great game is all about.