Prabath Jayasuriya is someone who has taken the test cricket by storm with a 12-wicket haul in his very first test match against Australia, but he could have made his debut for Sri Lanka in the longest format of the game sometime back itself.
The reason why Prabath Jayasuriya was deliberately kept out of the Sri Lankan team was because the former Sri Lanka coach Mickey Arthur was very strict with his fitness protocols.
To be able to play for Sri Lanka in test cricket under Arthur’s regime, it was mandatory for all the players to pass a test where they had to complete a race of 2 km in or under 8.5 minutes.
A failure to pass the test was going to result in an automatic disqualification from selection and that’s what happened with Prabath Jayasuriya, who couldn’t complete the distance of 2 km in the required time and was disqualified despite being in line of selection.
However, as the regime changed and Chris Silverwood, the former England coach, took charge of Sri Lankan national team, he discontinued race being the selection criteria and Prabath Jayasuriya got his opportunity to play test match cricket for Sri Lanka.
Mickey Arthur had his issues with Bhanuka Rajapaksa too, apart from Prabath Jayasuriya
Mickey Arthur is someone who has always put a lot of emphasis on fitness, wherever he has coached. He has coached a lot of teams, including the national teams of Pakistan and Sri Lanka, and he has had his fair share of controversies with the cricketers, mostly on the issues of fitness.
Mickey Arthur, in the Pakistan set up, couldn’t get along well with Umar Akmal and while working for Sri Lanka, he had an altercation with the left handed batsman Bhanuka Rajapaksa. The altercation between Arthur and Rajapaksa was out in the public and at one point, Rajapaksa had even withdrawn himself from Sri Lankan cricket. However, he came back later when Arthur left his position.
