One of the factors that Sri Lanka pushed ahead to make the Lanka Premier League (LPL) cricket series a reality was to showcase what the country has to offer the outside world and attract visitors in a time of crisis.
But a commentator Mike Haysman, pressed the wrong button and sent out a confused signal declaring that Sri Lanka has cheetahs, the world’s fastest land mammal, while a video of the local wildlife was shown on television during an LPL match.
“My favourite the cheetah,” Haysman said as another kind of the feline species, a leopard, was shown.
Showcasing Sri Lanka to the world is one thing, but unable to distinguish a leopard from a cheetah is another and Sri Lanka Cricket, the organisers of the LPL, could do better to ensure commentators get it right when they dabble in fields they ought to know more about in their eagerness to comment.
The only country outside Africa to boast of cheetahs is Iran.