Twitter slams Upul Tharanga for his poor batting form

Former Sri Lanka captain Upul Tharanga is going through a lean patch for quite some time now and the fans are not happy with the batsman. The senior batsman fell for yet another low score in the first ODI against South Africa which his side lost by 8 wickets and the chorus is going strong now to not risk picking him in the squad that will head for England and Wales in May for the 2019 ICC World Cup.

Tharanga managed just nine off 11 balls in the match before getting bowled by pacer Lungi Ngidi. Tharanga, who is Sri Lanka’s eighth highest run-getter in the 50-over variants with 6,935 runs from 232 games at an average of 34 plus, is nearing 15 years of experience. However, his batting form of late has been disappointing.

The last of his 15 ODI centuries came against Pakistan in Abu Dhabi back in 2017 while the last of his 37 fifties came against Bangladesh in Dhaka in January 2018. His last nine innings has seen 36 as the highest score which is less-than-satisfying for a veteran cricketer who has played three World Cups (2007, 2011 and 2015).

Tharanga played international cricket after a while but yet failed

Tharanga’s prolonged off form did not show any signs of return even after he lost his captaincy in 2017. He was even dropped from the team in the home series against England after playing just two games (he did not get to bat in one and scored zero in the other). The game against South Africa in Johannesburg was the first Tharanga played since the disappointment against England and yet after the break, his bat failed to do the talking to silence the critics. As a captain, too, Tharanga had his moments of failure as he was banned for a couple of games on two occasions for slow over rates – against South Africa and India.

Here are some of the reactions that the Twitterati came up with over Tharanga’s poor form with the willow:

Get upul tharanga out let gunathilaka in 😊😊

— Sn Hussain (@SnHussain9) March 4, 2019

Dear @SLCPresident @CHathurusinghe @OfficialSLC

Please don't select to the Upul tharanga next match. because he has out of form…New boy Avishka Fernando is best in this time..

— Dhanushka Dilhan (@DhanuDilhan) March 3, 2019

How about giving the ODI captaincy also to Dimuth Karunaratne and replace him with Upul Tharanga at the top? Surely can bat better than Upul and has got captaincy luck too…🤔#SAvSL

— P₹akash $inha 🇮🇳 (@Predicto_Praky) March 3, 2019

SriLanka lacks consistency in their batting. Hope the second ODI SL will perform better. Upul Tharanga must be dropped! #itstime @SLC @FanOf_SLCricket

— Dishan David Wille (@KingDish) March 3, 2019

Upul Tharanga's ODI batting since 01st January 2018 👎 #Cricket #LKA @OfficialSLC

ODIs – 15
Runs – 313
Ave – 24.07
SR – 75.42
50s – 1

Picked ahead if inform Avishka Fernando (opener) and also Kamindu Mendis (allrounder). why in XI? how long Upul will fail? #ThankYouTharanga

— Daniel Alexander (@daniel86cricket) March 3, 2019

Dear Upul Tharanga can you please stop wasting chances of young players.There's no Millions of matches remaining till the WC 🤗🤗🤗 #SAvSL

— Kj ツ (@Kasunjayaranga) March 3, 2019

Upul Tharanga is the greatest fraud in the Sri Lanka cricket team. Get him out now! Before it's too late in the World Cup.

— Don (@dontheman100) March 3, 2019

What’s going on with SL management? They bring in the old fox Upul Tharanga and fails miserably again ✋🏽

— Vinod Neeraj (@VinTweets) March 3, 2019

Its 2019 & Srilankan team still opening with UPUL THARANGA 😂😂😂

— Pankaj Nautiyal (@NautiyalG___) March 3, 2019

How many opportunities does Upul Tharanga get? He has failed to impress fans. Time to bring Avishka Fernando in and there’s no better time than this. World Cup is just around the corner @OfficialSLC #SAVSL

— Vinod Neeraj (@VinTweets) March 3, 2019

Surprised to see Upul Tharanga still in SL's scheme of things #SAvSL

— Patrick Bateman (@beingmike12) March 3, 2019

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