Bandula Warnapura; A legend departs never to return to the middle again
Shocking news that grappled the nation
It is poignant to note that Bandula Warnapura, first Test captain of Sri Lanka passed away on 18th October 2021 at a private hospital after a brief illness. He suffered from diabetics for quite some time and died of complications of the disease. A days before his demise, one of his legs was said to have been amputated. The entire nation prayed for his recovery in unison but his life was taken away unfairly at an unexpected moment. It was a shocking news for who played with him, associated him, worked with him and adored him as a player. In fact, his sudden demise was a shocking news for the entire nation. Bandula Warnapura was born on 01st March 1953 and at the time of his untimely death, he was 68 years old. He studied at Nalanda College, Colombo and was a bright prospect as a player from age group level Cricket at school. At young age, he started playing for Bloomfield Cricket Club in Colombo-07 and carved out a progressive Cricketing career.
Formative years of his career
He was fortunate enough to become part of the national squad in 1975 being a 25 years old young lad. He took part in the first ever Cricket World Cup tournament played in England in 1975 as a player. During the second episode of the Cricket World Cup in 1979, he once again made it to the final squad. It was a tough time for Sri Lanka, facing lethal bowling attacks of the leading teams in that era in the absence of modern day Cricketing gear and helmets. The team was captained by another Cricketing icon of yesteryear, Anura Tennakoon and was unfortunately injured on the field. Young Bandula Warnapura had to take over the mantle of interim captaincy, in place of his injured skipper in the middle of the tournament. During this period, Sri Lanka was only an associate member of ICC and was the only associate member qualified to play in this essay of Cricket World Cup. In this tournament, Sri Lanka has indeed made history by putting up a brilliant performance in every department of the game to beat India under the able captaincy of Bandula Warnapura. It was the first time that an associate member country outplayed a Test playing country at a World Cup. It was hailed as a phenomenal performance by gutty Sri Lankans. He was suddenly elevated to the celebrity status. And he displayed exceptional leadership qualities and fighting spirit in that game and so, a leader was born who Sri Lanka was desperately looking for, to take the game to the next level from underdog status.
Rise and fall of a hero
Following a lot of off the field battles and articulations, Sri Lanka was eventually awarded Test status in 1981 and played the maiden Test match on 17th February 1982 with touring England team led by Keith Fletcher. Bandula Warnapura was named to lead the Sri Lanka team in this first ever epoch-making encounter, becoming Sri Lanka’s first Test cap. It is interesting to recall the first day’s proceedings of the match. After winning the toss, Sri Lanka elected to bat and Bandula Warnapura became the first batsman to face the ball and scored a run thereafter for Sri Lanka. This is an unbreakable record that has gone down in the Cricket chronicles of Sri Lanka. However, he didn’t last long in the middle and was out for 2 runs. In the second inning, he scored a painstaking 38 but couldn’t save the match. It ended on the fourth day with England emerging victorious. He was also the 11th ODI cap and played 12 ODIs for the country as the captain. In the aftermath, his fortunes were twisted as he failed to be ‘in form’. At this juncture, he led the national squad in 4 Test matches at home and away. This was a scarcity of funds so that payments of the players were meagre. With regularly failing consistency, Bandula Warnapura was a dejected and disappointed man so were other leading players. This prompted Bandula Warnapura and some senior players to hatch a most disastrous plan which resulted in their careers being ruined forever. It was apartheid South Africa then which was banned from international theatre of sports. In 1982, Tony Opatha, a prominent member of the national team secretly organized a rebel tour to South Africa for an unprecedented financial gain for players which was uncommon at that time. This 14 member team was named ‘Arosa Sri Lanka’ which was captained by Bandula Warnapura while Tony Opatha functioned as player cum manager. They played two unofficial Tests and 4 ODIs which they lost cheaply. On their arrival after the rebel tour, a 25 year ban in all forms of the game awaited them. This sealed their careers which many of them openly repented and regretted in later years and Bandula Warnapura was one of them. Many of them started business ventures with the money they received but no one has performed exceptionally. This left a black mark on Sri Lanka Cricket and brought much disrepute.
Starting life all over again
Bandula Warnapura was not a man who could be reduced to ashes easily because Cricket ran in his blood. His whole life was nothing but Cricket. Therefore, he made inroads into the local Cricket administration first as a coach and culminated his career becoming the Director- Cricket Operations at Sri Lanka Cricket. After serving a long stint in this capacity, he joined Asian Cricket Council (ACC) situated in Malaysia and rendered a yeoman service to uplift the game of Cricket in the region. He made a lasting impression on everybody he met during his tenure as a member of ACC. Until he breathed his last, he only muttered the word ‘Cricket’. In some of the condolence messages by past Cricketers, they went on to recapture his colossus image and love for the game of Cricket. Arjuna Ranatunge, 1996 World Cup winning captain, epitomized the ‘great human’ in him and how he went out of the way to help peers and Youngers when in trouble. His onetime colleague Sanath Kaluperuma was visibly saddened to pen his thoughts on his departed teammate, saying to the effect how Bandu as he was affectionately called, was keeping contacts with everybody at least over the phone regularly. The fact that how much he was loved and adored by all was seen when he was making his last journey on the shoulders of the very people who lived in his heart.
May you attain supreme bliss of Nirvana, Bandula Warnapura, and the legend
