Star batsman Kumar Sangakkara has accomplished many feats in the game of cricket. He led the country exemplary for a brief two year period in which the team reached the finals of the ICC World T-20 and the World Cup.
His batting statistics will be hard to match for a long time to come as the left-hander has set the benchmark in both forms of the game. Sanga once won the ICC Cricketer of the Year award and this year was shortlisted for several awards. For many months, through consistent big scores he owned the number one slot in the ICC Rankings for batsmen. He has made all Sri Lankans proud.
Sanga’s current Test batting average of 58:76 is significantly higher than those of some of the all time greats of the game such as Sachin Tendulkar (53:78), Brian Lara (52:88), Sir Viv Richards (50:23), Sunil Gavaskar (51:12), Sir Gary Sobers (57:78) and Greg Chappell (53:86). Only the inimitable Sir Don Bradman with a never to be matched Test average of 99:99 stands above Sanga.
If the manner in which he quit the captaincy were to go by, you will not see Kumar Sangakkara representing the country after the 2015 World Cup. He played the game like a gentleman and he will go like a gentleman. He is unlikely to compromise on such an exceptional record which will be very hard to match.
In the last Test he played against Pakistan at SSC after being dismissed for 59 runs, Sanga waved his bat giving an indication that he has played his last Test on home soil. But over the last week, there were suggestions that the national selectors want him to continue after the World Cup. You will certainly not see Sanga play ODIs after the World Cup as he wouldn’t want to block the opportunity of a youngster. But he may consider carrying on in Test cricket. But there’s one question. Can Sanga trust Sri Lanka Cricket?
Sri Lanka’s Test match schedule for next year is unclear. But you can assume that there will be home series against Pakistan, West Indies, India and an away series in New Zealand. When you only concentrate to play one form of the game it gets difficult. Often you need to train on your own as the other players are busy playing other forms of cricket. It’s not easy to maintain your enthusiasm and be at your peak physically.
You can be assured that Sanga will train in such a way that he will reach his best possible physical fitness, but there is a problem. Sanga can’t trust his magician employers. Like Jesus turned water into wine, those at Maitland Place keep turning Test Matches into ODIs instantly. As Sanga knows too well, those running SLC have only two priorities; 1. Money. 2. More money.
Ask that ace magician Upali Dharmadasa, who in a 12 month period at the helm of SLC turned 11 Test Matches into ODIs.
Sanga also needs to be watchful of board room politics. He needs to play the waiting game and watch what happens to the cricket board elections soon after the World Cup. If the incumbent Jayantha Dharmadasa wins a re-election, Sanga is safe to go on. But if another man who has ambitions of becoming the SLC President contests the election, he needs to take stocks of what he should do. Taking on the likes of Dale Steyn, Mitchell Johnson and James Anderson maybe child’s play to Sanga, but he is simply incapable of fighting the administrative nincompoops.
It’s a well kept secret that Sanga was almost sent home from Sri Lanka’s tour of England in 2011. Those ‘running’ the game at that time had decided to bring their former captain home and what saved the day for Sanga was some compromise ending a deadlock. Here’s what happened.
When the squad was picked for the tour of England in 2011, the selectors surprisingly did not name a vice-captain. The best option to be Tillekeratne Dilshan’s vice-captain was Thilan Samaraweera, but some influential figure who didn’t like Samaraweera encouraged the selectors not to name a vice-captain. Unfortunately Dilshan got injured in the second Test at Lord’s and Sri Lanka were without a captain for the final Test at Rose Bowl.
Samaraweera, Prasanna Jayawardene, Mahela Jayawardene and Sangakkara refused to captain the side in the final Test. At that point, a powerful man pointed fingers at Sanga and went after him and nearly got him sent home. In the end, Sanga agreed to lead the side reluctantly and that saved him from embarrassment and a huge black mark.
It’s no secret that some officials at Maitland Place have been gunning for Sanga for some time now. Unfortunately they can’t do anything because he keeps scoring big runs. But occasionally they make life difficult for him. Here’s one incident.
Last year Sanga returned home from Australia after Mitchell Johnson fractured his thumb. He didn’t play any cricket between Australia and Sri Lanka’s next assignment, the home series against Bangladesh. So he requested SLC to play the warm-up game against Bangladesh at Matara. This was at a time when a contract dispute was on between SLC and national cricketers. In good faith Sanga drove all the way to Matara to play the game. The next morning SLC representative at Matara informed him that orders from Colombo was that he can’t play the game because he hadn’t signed the contract. Small minds in big places! Country’s favourite cricket son was being treated like a schoolboy.
We can’t remember the selectors intervening at that juncture to save Sanga from embarrassment. We aren’t sure whether the selectors will intervene in the future to solve any impasse given the way some of them volunteered to take the ‘full responsibility’ for the 5-0 whitewash in India to save an administrator from sharp criticism.
Sanga needs to watch it. He should keep one eye on what’s happening with the cricket elections before taking a decision on his future. Ideally, he should go after the World Cup with his head held high and hopefully as a World Champion. There’s no point in taking on people who are waiting to make life miserable for you.
Lord Buddha once said, ‘In the end, only three things matter: How much you loved, how gently you lived, and how gracefully you let go of things not meant for you.’
