Bhanuka Rajapaksa kept Galle Marvels in Sunday's Lanka Premier League final with an 82 off 34 deliveries, but his most consequential role in the game might have been in riling up Rilee Rossouw .
It's not uncommon for athletes to search for added motivation in high-pressure contests. This was revealed about Michael Jordan, for example, in the Last Dance documentary, which showed him picking fights and sometimes even conjure slights out of thin air to help fuel his game.
On Sunday, Rossouw might have just taken a page out of Jordan's book, as he produced a knock of utmost belligerence - an unbeaten 106 off 53 deliveries - to fire Jaffna Kings to a fourth title in five years. The catalyst for Rossouw's outstanding play, however, had taken place a little earlier.
It was the 18th over of Galle's innings, and Jaffna were reeling from Rajapaksa's epic counter-attack which had peaked just minutes prior when he ransacked Charith Asalanka for 28 in a single over. With emotions fraying and Galle in the ascendancy, the third ball of the 18th saw Rajapaksa complete a single after Kusal Mendis' throw had ricocheted off the stumps. So far, so innocuous.
But when the second throw also deflected, this time off Rajapaksa just as he was creasing at the non-striker's end, the point of contention arose as Rajapaksa turned and hurried through for a second run.
The Jaffna players immediately protested, citing that the ball had deflected off the batter's body. Rajapaksa, to his credit, had initially put his hand up to stop his partner Dwaine Pretorius from coming back for the second before eventually running once he realised his partner wasn't stopping. He had even sought to seemingly apologise to his national mates, Mendis and Asalanka, but when the second bye was eventually awarded to Galle, matters boiled over.
Rossouw, stationed at mid-off, took a particularly dim view of the incident during a heated exchange with Rajapaksa. Following this, the umpire ushered Rossouw and Jaffna skipper Asalanka over to address the matter, but Rossouw wasn't backing down. Some amateur lip-reading suggested that the South African was pointing out that that he did indeed know the rules. He was then seen facing up to umpire Kumar Dharmasena as well, before proceedings eventually simmered down.
But Rossouw was seething.
"Hundred per cent," Rossouw said after the game when asked by Roshan Abeysinghe if his altercation with Rajapaksa had spurred him on. "People that know me don't abuse me… it just puts me more in the zone."
As these words were uttered, the camera panned to a stone-faced Rajapaksa. Penny for his thoughts indeed. But boy was Rossouw in the zone. Nine fours and seven sixes meant 78 of his 106 came in boundaries, and some of those strokes exuded disdain - a couple of cross-batted swipes in particular had more than a tinge of anger about them.
And so impactful was his knock, it shifted the pendulum considerably in terms of the Player of the Tournament stakes, moving away from tournament top-scorer Tim Seifert and Jaffna's middle order enforcer Avishka Fernando - the overwhelming favourites pre-game - to Rossouw. His hundred, his second of the season, was by far his best and shot him up to second in the run-scoring charts, while his strike rate moved up enough notches to be the best of those in the top ten.
Asalanka was questioned on the incident after the game as well, and he sought to play it down as would be expected.
"Usually batters don't run after something like that, but I think to give Rajapaksa the benefit of the doubt, he was called through for the second and he just responded," he explained. "Rilee had told Bhanuka that he had brought the game into disrepute, to which Bhanuka had responded - and then exchanged some words."
But you suspect there was not much Rajapaksa could have said in any case to change the outcome. Rossouw, after all, had found his fuel.
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