Mahela for President

In 2002 football world cup, when South Korea got qualified for the semifinal against Italy, "Hiddink for President" was a ubiquitous banner at all of Korea's matches. Guus Hiddink was a Dutch coach who made the South Koreans semifinalists in the 2002 football world cup. That indicates how far a player/coach can go into people’s heart – though they didn’t really mean it.

In 2007 Cricket world cup, Mahela Jayawardena lead the Sri Lanka to the final against Australia. His batting was superb. The innings he played in the semifinal against New Zealand was one of the best I’ve ever seen. Forget me, even the great Sanath Jayasuriya in a brief interview with the local media mentioned Mahela’s innings in the semifinal was the best he saw in this world cup.

There were many ceremonies organized to welcome the Sri Lankan cricketers returning home, through out the way from Katunayaka to Colombo. People gathered to express their gratitude even under heavy rains. It was pleasing to see many cricketers, including Mahela – who was seated at the back seat, opened the shutters to hand-shake with the well-wishers. They definitely should be tired after flying for hours from Barbados – but Mahela had no such signs on his face. He was so pleasing and anxious to return a smile to everyone gathered to wish them good luck.

So… don’t be surprised if you see a banner suggesting, “Mahela for President” – he has already won the hearts of players and the people of this country to that extent.