Gayan Manjula: Sri Lanka cricket’s small wonder

By Desmond Samith

For twenty-eight-year-old Gayan Manjula Senanayake his travelling bag is not just right if two huge national flags are not among its content. And he is not just happy by keeping them inside the bag. He wants to take them out, display them for everyone to see, and wave them endlessly so the ‘boys in the middle would see them and get encouraged to do better’.
Gayan is Sri Lanka cricket team’s ‘one-man-cheer-squad’.
With ‘Uncle Percy’ getting old and nearing his retirement, and his successor ‘Lionel’ allegedly doing the vanishing trick in England, cricket fans were wondering as to who will lead the crowd in cheering at matches. Gayan has assumed that role—and is doing a decent job.
Slightly built and hunchbacked, Gayan may not be able to step into a playing team of any sport. But as a cricket cheer leader he is second to none.
“Whenever Sri Lanka play we need to have our national flag on the ground,” Gayan said. “By waving it we show our solidarity with the players who are doing their best for mother Lanka.”
With his two flags Gayan has been to all cricket venues in Sri Lanka and most in India and Bangladesh.
Most of us celebrate Sri Lanka team’s victories and easily get disillusioned when the team is doing badly. However for Gayan there is no wavering.
“It doesn’t matter if the team win or lose, I’ll be there for them.”
A resident of Polgasovita, Piliyandala, Gayan attended Kalubowila Maha Vidyalaya. He followed cricket from an early age and watched in admiration when Sri Lanka under Arjuna Ranatunga annexed the World Cup in 1996. From 1999 Gayan started going to grounds, and he hasn’t missed a single match played in Sri Lanka. He has had a ‘small job’ as a lottery ticket seller, but he has given it up as it was difficult to find time for cricket. His mother, elder brother and friends find money for him to engage in his favourite hobby or obsession. Nilam Mohamed, a friend from IDH is keeping him company in the matches.
“Gradually I came to know players like Mahela (Jayawardene), Murali (Muttiah Muralitharan) and Sanath (Jayasuriya),” Gayan said.
It’s the Sri Lankan players who help him when he travels with them to matches in India and Bangladesh. Some cricket board officials too helped him in the past. A travel agency has sponsored him with tickets.
He has many friends all around the world.
From the Indian camp his friends are MS Dhoni, Virendra Sehwag, Gautam Gambhir and Suresh Raina.
And from Australia, Brett Lee, Adam Gilchrist and Andrew Symonds.
“I love all of them,” Gayan said. “They too love me.”
He has close to a hundred of photographs of players, most of them with their arms around his shoulders. And autographed T-shirts, caps, souvenirs, and cricket equipment like balls and gloves, given to him by the players around the world.
When Sri Lanka toured Bangladesh in 2006 Bangladesh’s left-arm spinner Mohammad Rafique welcomed Gayan and his friend to his house in Dhaka and let them stay there. And the spinner even took them to the airport in his car.
“It was a big thing for us as we didn’t have much money,” Gayan recalled. “To save money we had flown from Colombo to Chennai. Then we took a thirty-hour ride in train from Chennai to Kolkata, and spent 15 hours on bus from Kolkata to Dhaka.”
During Sri Lanka’s Test tour of India in December last year Gayan remember having lunch with Sehwag, Gambhir and Ishant Sharma.
In the recent Indian Premier League (IPL) tournament Gayan came across Bollywood star Sharuk Khan when he was witnessing a match involving Kolkata Knight Riders. Khan is the owner of Knight Riders for whom Sri Lanka’s Angelo Mathews and Ajantha Mendis play.
“He spoke to me and asked me to support his team,” Gayan said with gleaming eyes. “He even gave me tickets for all his team’s matches.”
Sri Lanka’s number one cricket fan said he is not thinking about a girlfriend or marriage as it will limit his freedom to follow cricket.
His ambition is to see a Test match at the Lord’s in England.
He is also planning to form a permanent cheering squad with his friends Nilam and ‘Ralahami’.
“England has the Balmy Army. We need to have one of our own,” he said.
To achieve his goals Gayan needs luck as well as money.