Demonstrations Organized through Facebook to Demand the Former SL Cricket Captain's Return

Facebook protests have reached Sri Lanka now. On the afternoon of Saturday, 9 of April 2011 (today), a protest organized through the social media network facebook is going to be held at Independence Square at Colombo to demand the return of the country's cricket captain Kumar Sangakkara, who resigned after the recently concluded Cricket World Cup 2011.

Whether the protest, first of its kind in Sri Lanka, turns out to be successful or not can be assessed only after the event. There are a number of speculations as to what the real motive was behind the resignation of the captain of the team which emerged runners up at the World Cup. The explanations given by Sangakkara, or any other authority for that matter, has not been able to silence various rumors. Sangakkara still enjoys wide support among the cricket fans of the country. This is the basis on which the demonstration is held.

The protest has been criticized by some on the ground that there are more pressing issues to protest about facing the country and its people today. However, others tend to think that Sangakkara's resignation is also part of the problem, as they believe that it was a politically motivated decision. Meanwhile a substantial number of the people seem to be quite indifferent on the issue.

However, one important fact to note is that while there are many who argue that 'there are many more pressing issues', no one has been able to organize a protest of this kind. These critics are revealing the incompetence of the themselves while criticizing the organizers of the event.

Personally, this author is not a huge cricket fan. But his opinion is that for the betterment of a sports team, a successful captain must never resign suddenly. If he had already decided to resign after the World Cup, he should have made that clear beforehand, rather than wait till the Sri Lankans lost the final.

The image shows the singing of national anthems before the start of the Quater Final between Sri Lanka and England at R. Premadasa Stadium, Colombo on March 26, 2011. Picture by Ravindu Dissanayake.