Chandimal recalls Tsunami pain

If Dinesh Chandimal is picked for Sri Lanka on Thursday, he might recall the harrowing moment that changed his nation a decade ago.

Fifteen-year-old Chandimal was watching the New Zealand v Sri Lanka Boxing Day ODI at his family's home by the sea in Amabalangoda, when his mother called out. The neighbour's boat, she said, was quickly closing in on their house. Chandimal took a single look at the giant wave, raised the alarm, and they ran.

If he was traumatised that day, he wears those scars lightly. He is firstly thankful that no one in his family was among the 38,000 Sri Lankans who lost their lives, but their troubles were hardly insubstantial.

"We lost everything," Chandimal said, "including my cricket bag. I can still remember what happened like it was yesterday, the way our home was caught up and lost. Our neighbours and our relatives, everyone was affected. I feel very sad even now, when I think about it."

Perhaps no on-field disappointment will ever match the distress of surviving a tsunami, but in 2014, Chandimal has had plenty of cricketing adversity to overcome. Having begun the year with 89 in a match-saving stand with Angelo Mathews in Abu Dhabi, his form deserted him so emphatically that he dropped himself from the World T20 side he was captaining. He was axed from the ODI team soon after. In Tests - for so long his best suit - he nosedived, falling to the hook shot thrice in three innings in June and July before the selectors packed him off to an 'A' team tour of England.

"It's been a struggle in the past few months," he said. "I'm someone who's always looking for runs, and maybe that's why I play the hook when I see a short ball. When you are performing badly, whether you're playing cricket, running a business, or studying, you're always going to be under pressure. Maybe that got to me mentally as well."

More failures would follow, at home and in India, before his game finally began to click again. "There were technical issues as well, and I worked very hard on those. Maybe I won't hook early in the innings any more, but after I've watched for a bit, I will go to the hook shot I've always played well in the past.

"Mentally, I had to get myself to a good place as well. For that, I watched a lot of videos of myself batting well in the past - my hundred at Lord's, my batting in the CB series in 2012, and in my debut Test against South Africa. I was looking at what my attitude was, and what I was thinking about. I absorbed all of that, and it's allowed me to start doing well again."

Chandimal's change of fortunes came at the tail-end of the series against England, when the axing of opener Kusal Perera vacated a space in the middle order. His 35 from 31 in the sixth ODI was later described as a "very special, very important innings," by Kumar Sangakkara, whose hundred headed up the victory. A few days later in Colombo, Chandimal's brisk 55 not out put the finishing touches on a match-winning total of 302.

"The England tour was a big challenge," he said. "I was in a good mental space for those matches, and really ready to perform for the team. That's the attitude with which I went into those matches, and I've only become stronger since. I think I've done better in overseas matches than I have in the subcontinent, so that makes me feel confident with the season coming up."

Chandimal is unlikely to play as wicketkeeper, even if he is picked for the first Test. Unburdened by leadership, and relieved of the gloves as well, he and the selectors will hope he finds full expression at the top level again.