Aug. 31, 1999. Shane Warne, wearing his yellowish ODI kit, was coming out to bat from the Khettarama pavilion. His team Australia, while batting first, was struggling at 134 for six. A packed stadium, with nearly 40,000 people, started booing Warne, who was normally regarded the No.1 adversary of the local cricket fan. The booing lasted from the time Warne’s gleeful silhouette appeared from the dressing room until he poked his first delivery in the middle.

Cricket is, in fact, was, during its modern days, to be precise, a game of great spirit. There was a broad yet touching story underneath the game in the middle. Cricket represented vital social reverberations, differences and injustices. It said remarkable tales of courage. That was the post-independence era ‘modern’ game of cricket that we saw. It was not just cricket. There was something more. That (old) cricket looks to have died now.

Test series between Australia and West Indies during the ’50s and ’60s is hailed high in the history of cricket. The series, most importantly, reflected connotations of the eternal struggle between ‘black and white’, ‘rich and poor’ and ‘the beautiful and the ugly.’

After an MCG Test of that famous Windies tour of Australia in 1960-61, Keith Miller, who had then reported international cricket to The Observer in Sri Lanka, has written the following. The five-match series has seen a great rivalry between (Sir) Frank Worrell’s Windies and Richie Benaud’s Australia before the latter controversially won it 2-1.

"Australia won only on the scoreboard but the match (the 5th Test) was won by Worrell and his team." Miller has been referring to the awfully partial umpiring that had helped Benaud’s Australia to win the Test.

After this particular MCG Test, Windies have received a marvellous reception from the spectators. On the final day, after the disputed Aussies win, Worrell has told Benaud, according to Miller, the following.

While offering Benaud his cricket cap, Worrell said, "I give my head to you Mr. Benaud." Then Worrell has given his neck-tie to Benaud saying, "Here I’m giving you my neck." Finally, offering his blazer to the Australian captain Worrell said, "I give you my body to you Mr. Benaud."

This famous incident on the hindsight reveals that cricket was a flesh-and-blood engagement especially for the lesser privileged party. The game, therefore, was regarded as part of man’s endless fight for freedom and justice. So, in return, the game received a touching reaction from its followers forming the great spirit of cricket.

When Sri Lanka Captain Arjuna Ranatunga guided the ‘minnowy’ island nation to the pinnacle of world cricket in 1996, nobody would have thought it was the end of the road for that ‘spirited’ game of cricket in Sri Lanka.

Ranatunga injected an overwhelming fighting spirit to his team and paved the way for shattering the classy aura that hindered Sri Lanka cricket to a great degree before him. With his entry into the national cricket leadership, the time for ‘gentlemanly’ submission in front of a strong English hostility was over.

That resounding late-night drama in the ’96 World Cup final —sending the naughty Aussies to their feet by a set of uncompromising babies— was undoubtedly one of the most defining moments in the history of world sports.

Twelve years after the ecstasy, the whole structure of the game here underwent a huge change. Ranatunga, despite all his weaknesses, turned the way the game had been played here completely upside down.

But, even beyond his control, something very strange took place during the last decade or so. The time marked virtually the end of that touching, lively game which some generations of men and women cherished and enjoyed.

It is as if there is no further social statement that could be made through cricket. Cricket is no longer a stage for the fight for a broad social course. Its real social attachment looks to be over.

Thushara Cooray, a veteran cricket scorer in Sri Lanka, told The Island in 2005 that the present game of cricket was a tele-drama! Cooray, who has scored home Tests for Sri Lanka for over 20 years, argued that cricket those days was played ‘before cameras’but now it’s played ‘for the cameras’.

The domination of the media and the sponsors have almost created a different era in cricket. Both media and sponsorship have grown beyond the game. They call the shots now. The game has shed its modern traits and has entered into a post-modern situation.

Ranatunga’s team could possibly be ‘the last of the Mohicans’ that played cricket here in its ‘original’ way. The ‘good fellas’ following him were callously engulfed by the more prominent market forces. Now, Mahela Jayawardene talks about IPL and ICL contracts and their obligations to profit-oriented Twenty-20 cricket in India.

Ranatunga could call a rogue a rogue while holding his head straight. For that, he always got a spat from his enemies. But the masses loved him and backed him. The game became a leeway, under Arjuna, for their hopes and interests. But, on the contrary, the Aussies look to be very good friends for our present captain. He calls them ‘Warnie’, ‘Gillie’, ‘Mattie’ and ‘Ponnie’. Funny, eh!.

The National Team has to represent the nation at any cost. But instead Mahela and the Co. spend their time arguing about contracts, deals, endorsements and TV rights.

With this kind of attitude, how can the masses see them as their representatives?

Our cricket doesn’t have any ideal obligation to its fellow citizens. Cricket doesn’t depend on them. It is, instead, being paid by the vast corporate sector. Our ‘national’ cricketers therefore have their obligations only to various companies, money-hungry player agents, ICLs, IPLs, Guptas, Duttas and Modis, etc.

In this unsavoury backdrop, the ‘true’ cricket fan is left with utmost desperation, melancholy and nostalgia. They have nothing else to do rather than losing in the glory of the past. They have to consider the present set of cricketers as selfish, irresponsible and shallow characters who have mixed up their role of cricket playing with acting, gaming and earning.

"Melancholy mood,

Why must you blind me?

Pity me and break the chains

The chains that bind me,

Won’t you release me?

Set me free…

Oh, melancholy mood…"