Sa’adi Thawfeeq reporting from India

KANPUR: Behind the success of every man there is a woman. So it is in the case of Sri Lanka’s opening batsman Tillakaratne Dilshan who is presently making waves in the international cricket sphere with his stupendous batting talent. Not a day passes without Dilshan figuring in the news headlines whether it be the runs he’s scored, a brilliant display on the field or an injury which he has become quite commonly prone to on the current tour of India.

The year 2009 has been an exceptional one for Dilshan in all forms of the game whether it is Test, One-day Internationals or Twenty20 Internationals. The change came about after he was promoted as opener for the one-day matches in Pakistan to partner evergreen Sanath Jayasuriya in January 2009.

“When I was dropped from the team on the tour to Australia I phoned Mahela (Jayawardene) who was then captain and told him that if we went as openers I could contribute more to the team, ‘what do you think?’ He told me if I had the confidence, to go and open for my club. That’s where it all started,” said Dilshan. “I scored 188 (off 135 balls inclusive of 12 sixes and 14 fours) for Bloomfield against Colts in a Premier limited overs match. Before making that decision I spoke to my wife and my parents. I think the decision to become an opener is one of the best I’ve taken in my life.”

Dilshan’s fortunes changed for the better when he married a second time in May 2008 to Manjula Thilini, a leading teledrama actress in the country famed for her role in the popular teledrama ‘Nilanjana’. The marriage took place at a hotel in Delhi last May under Hindu rituals while he was playing for Delhi Daredevils in the IPL 2008.

Manjula no doubt has brought Dilshan good fortune to the extent that 2009 has been an outstanding year for him. Look what it has achieved for him – he was the leading scorer in the ICC World Twenty20 in England (317 runs, avg 52.83) where he won the Player of the Series with his improvised batting which saw the birth of cricket’s newest stroke called ‘Dilscoop’ where he flicked the ball astonishingly over his head. Dilshan’s success as opener in the one-day and T20 formats prompted the selectors to invite him to open in the home Test series against New Zealand. He proved to be an instant success scoring 92 and 123 not out at Galle to set up a 202-run win for Sri Lanka. Soon afterwards he was named the ICC World Twenty20 Player of the Year and then swept the inaugural CEAT awards by winning the Player of the Year, Best ODI Cricketer of the Year and Most Popular Cricketer of the Year awards. Dilshan started off the present tour of India in outstanding fashion carving out a century off 133 balls and laying the foundation for his team to pile up the highest ever total made by a visiting side to India – 760 for 7 declared - in what turned out to be a featherbed track at Ahmedabad.

“I didn’t think of becoming an opener in Tests. My ambition was to open in one-dayers and T20s but when the team had a problem of finding an opener for the Tests they came and asked me whether I would like to fulfil that role. But I told them I will do it but give me some time to settle down in that position. Opening in a Test is not as easy as playing in an ODI,” said Dilshan.

“I was given the assurance by the captain and chairman of selectors. Whether the decision to open in Tests is a right one is too early to say. I have opened in only three Tests. In the Ahmedabad Test I curbed my natural stroke play and I didn’t go on an all out attack because India began on the back foot. I though I’ll take the chance and waited for the ball to get a bit older but after scoring 20-30 runs batting became easy for me,” he said.

Dilshan’s personal opinion is that he had a chance to extend his career longer if he opened in all three formats. “I think the way I play shots suits my style as an opener. At school I was an opener and when I came to club cricket also I played as an opener. But in the national team I couldn’t get a place in that slot because there were two established openers in Sanath (Jayasuriya) and Marvan (Atapattu). Even though it’s late in my career I think I have got the place I deserve,” said Dilshan.

“I think as an opener the opposition is trying more to curb my run scoring opportunities rather than try to take my wicket. That way I have a great advantage. They have a deep cover and deep fine leg and square leg and by doing that even for a good ball I can get a run. It may not be the case for another batsman who may be stuck at one end,” he said.

At 33, Dilshan feels his career has taken a turn for the better after the change of batting positions from middle-order to opener. “As an opener I feel assured of my place in the team rather than when I was batting at No. 5 or 6 where if I failed three or four times in ODIs there was always a chance of me getting dropped. There has been a big change in my batting because I am able to score runs freely. I now have a clear mind with no worries.

“In my 10-year career I have been dropped and recalled several times to the team as a middle-order batsman. Even if I score 30 runs and win a match for my country it doesn’t get highlighted. But since I became an opener in all three formats my performances have come to be highlighted a lot because I have been able to steer my team to victory and have a big score against my name. I have not failed as a batsman at No. 6 but what is required from me in that position as a batsman is far less than that of an opener.”

The change of batting position has got Dilshan thinking of setting targets something which he never thought of before in his career. “Batting at No. 6 you cannot even score 500 runs in a year it is difficult, but now I am setting myself small targets like wanting to achieve 1000 runs in Tests and ODIs for 2009 which I am now close to attaining.”

“I don’t have big ambitions but to continue with this form for the 2011 World Cup and contribute as much as possible towards the team’s victories,” he said.

By M Naushad Amit

“I have had the opportunity to have a very close relationship with Sebastian Vettel in the last four years. We were part of the BMW team’s sports activities. He was involved in stunt riding through F1 and me. We continue to remain good friends and his qualities as a human being are quite a contrast from what one can expect from a would-be F1 world champion. He may become the greatest in F1 as he shows all the potential of becoming one but to those who know him he is a greatly loved character and a well-respected man. I have already won world titles and he is yet to win one. I think commitment and perfection is one thing that is common in us,” said Pfeiffer in an interview with The Nation a day prior to his first-ever stunt performances in Sri Lanka.

Sri Lankan motor sport fans had a rare opportunity of witnessing the world’s best in stunt riding, Pfeiffer performed his award-winning stunts and tricks in Colombo yesterday at two different venues. The four-time World, European and Erzberg Rodeo Stunt Riding Champion later turned professional in 1996 after beginning at the age of 10 as an amateur trial rider in 1980. Pfeiffer has performed over 100 international shows in most parts of the world since 1996. He is known to be a rider who relentlessly pushes his limits with new tricks, projects and off-road races that set the pulse for extreme riding. But surprisingly, at the beginning of his career, Pfeiffer was a passionate motocross rider.

“I always wanted to be a good motocross rider. But as years passed by I learnt it was so exhausting to become a professional in motocross. Moreover I wanted to be more creative in what I do. All that fitted in freestyle stunt riding. In stunt riding we get to do difficult tricks at a given time in an entertaining way. I naturally have that thirst of doing creative things with the two-wheeler machine. So this style suited me much more than I thought,” he added.

During his career of over two decades where Pfeiffer was an active rider of smaller bikes for nearly 16 years. He said moving to do stunts on the bigger made bikes made a big difference. “I started performing with the much bigger and heavier bikes 9 years ago. From then onwards I have created many moves that are unique to me and by these I went on to win titles that I have never dreamt of achieving,” Pfeiffer further said.

Since 2000 Pfeiffer trained intensively on big street bikes. Street bikes became a growing part of his shows as the speed of the street bike made him to push his limits. Three years later in 2003, Pfeiffer reached the high point of his career when he was crowned the Stunt Riding World Champion in Bechyne, Czech in front of 15,000 cheering fans and six enthusiastic judges who unanimously selected him as the winner. This was his first- ever participation in a world championship and he said that he no more has the hunger to win any titles though he intends to continue with his performances. But amazingly, he said that being a professional extreme motorbike rider does not ideally make him a popular character in his country, Germany, where footballers, tennis players and F1 drivers are treated as celebrities.

“To be frank I did not get the recognition that other sports stars in the country get. But after winning a few world and European titles I earned the attention of the media in my country and now I’m a globally known champion. Regardless of what I have been through I never stopped practising and perfecting my art on motorbikes. I still try to ride faster and I try a lot of new tricks. My bike which is a BMW helps me a lot to perform freely. Winning titles continuously has helped me in achieving what I am today. To be honest now I’m living my dream,” said the humble world champion who made his first visit to the island nation through the courtesy of his global strategic partner Red Bull.

In January 2006, Pfeiffer changed to the BMW F800s and success immediately followed. After no more than two months of practice on the new bike, Pfeiffer won the most prestigious US Street Bike Freestyle Competition, the legendary “Stuntwars” in Florida and right after that, he won all three rounds of the European Stunt Riding Championships. In February 2007, Pfeiffer won the Indoor World Championship title in street bike freestyle. So far he has won the world titles in stunt riding in 2003, 2007, 2008 and 2009 while wining the European Championship in 2004, 2006, 2007 and 2008. But with age catching up and more youngsters showing promise Pfeiffer said winning titles was not as thrilling as before. Pfeiffer believes that he has fulfilled his dreams in stunt riding.

However, his path to motor racing was a total coincidence though Pfeiffer’s father had a professional background in motorcycling. He briefly recalled the turning point of his life that changed him into the greatest stunt rider ever at the age of 39. “I am the only child in my family. My father was an enthusiastic rider but he had given up riding when I was born so that I would not get into the sport. Earlier he was a well-known rider in Germany for his performances in ‘Ice Biking’. I had the desire to ride motorcycles but things changed one day by coincidence when I was a five-year-old kid. My mother sent my father and me to buy some trousers to the town. But we returned home with a motorbike. I started riding around our garden. That was how it all started.”

“At first there was no practice, there was no goal, nothing was serious, and it was totally for fun. At the age of 10, I started to ride at trial competitions. My mother who was against dangerous riding was happy that I choose something like trial biking because the chances of getting hurt were minimal. She said it was good for learning and encouraged me. But when I moved to do stunt riding she was totally against it. She was scared that I might end up getting hurt. My father supported me and somehow other she soon accepted it. Now she is very happy for what I have achieved and my wife, three kids and family members are my greatest supporters,” he said.

Pfeiffer hails from a small village close to the Austrian border in the southern part of Germany. The closest town to his hometown is Munich where the head office and main factory of his bike manufacturer BMW is situated. His village according to him is surrounded by ski resorts. However Pfeiffer opted to be a bike rider which was his all-time dream rather than becoming a ski diver though he had all the natural resources around.

“I studied sports in the University. I always wanted to be a sports science teacher. But my motorbike has been always with me since my childhood. I kept on practising until I became a perfect rider. Hard practice and riding is still so much fun to me. I’m the best in this sport today because I really committed myself to it and loved each minute of it,” added Pfeiffer who said injuries have never discouraged his progress at any point of his career.

Today Pfeiffer is being honoured by the car and bike manufacturer BMW with a special motorbike of its “F800R Chris Pfeiffer” edition. Since the beginning of this year Pfeiffer started focusing on his first-ever DVD “CP Motor Freestyle”. This Disc managed to achieve massive sales and distribution was a big hit in North America, where the production had been nominated for the extreme sports Oscar - the Xtremmy Awards in 2006. “There will be a point in my career where I have to put a complete stop to competitions. The youngsters are getting better day by day. Stunt riding is a game without limits. I have already done a few DVDs on stunt riding and I think that is a good way to do creative things in the future. I have plans to perform at rare and selected locations around the world and put them on DVDs. But I will never stop riding and doing new things,” concluded Pfeiffer who thinks that stunt riding deserves much better as a sport by way of recognition and rewards than what it receives now.