Wednesday was lot of fun. Lot of fun because Kumar Sangakkara was in a mood to make amends to a few lost opportunities. In UAE against Pakistan and in the first Test against Bangladesh in Dhaka, Sanga had been the subject to several soft dismissals.
A man who puts a high price on his wicket had found strange ways to get dismissed. That must have made him angry and poor Bangladesh were at the receiving end as Sanga teamed up with the tail to reach his maiden triple.
By his standards, the series against Pakistan was below par. Sanga averaged just 33 with a top score of 55. Not the stuff you expect from a batsman of his class on those flat decks found in UAE.
In his absence, Mahela Jayawardene had cashed in. He won the race between the two to get to 11,000 runs first. Sanga’s average dropped from 57 to 56:45. But after the triple hundred, provided he doesn’t bat again in the second innings, his average will again shoot up to 57:83. Unbelievable stuff when you consider modern day greats Tendulkar averages 53, Ponting averages 51, Kallis 55, Dravid 52 and Lara 52
Consistency is Sanga’s greatest strength. The champion batsman doesn’t fail in consecutive series. That’s why he has been the fastest batsman to score 8000 runs, 9000 runs and 11,000 runs. He is also the joint fastest to get to 10,000 runs along with Tendulkar and Lara with all three of them reaching the milestone in 195 innings.
Only Sir Don Bradman has scored more double hundreds than Sanga now. The former Sri Lanka captain has nine double hundreds and was dismissed in 190s on three occasions. He was left stranded on 199 in Galle against Pakistan after the scoreboard operators made a mistake. In Hobart against Australia, perhaps his greatest knock, he was given out wrongly when on 192.
Only two other Sri Lankans have scored triple hundreds – Mahela Jayawardene and Sanath Jayasuriya. Sanga’s is the only knock away from home and it perhaps didn’t bring in the accolades the other two triple hundreds brought partly because the opposition was Bangladesh and perhaps some prominent men at SLC hate seeing Sanga succeed. Hence they treat him like a schoolboy. Last year, as he was returning from injury, the authorities got him to drive up to Matara to play a warm-up game against touring Bangladesh. After reaching the destination he was told over the phone that he wasn’t eligible to play the game as he had not signed national contracts. Sanga brushed aside the disappointment. Petty minds at high places, he would have thought. SLC celebrated Sanath’s triple hundred like a national celebration with the Head of State present. Mahela was given a Peugeot. Sanga didn’t even get a press release from SLC.
The man himself didn’t celebrate the milestone in grand style. For him it matters to score runs against Australia, South Africa, England and perhaps Pakistan. He takes pride in making big knocks against quality attacks.
Many believe his 192 in Hobart against Brett Lee, Mitchell Johnson and Stuart MacGill as his best. But Sanga puts it as his second best. He cherishes his 230 against Pakistan in 2002 more than any other knock. Why? ‘It came in winning cause,’ he says. And against many odds as well.
It was an attack that comprised Waqar Younis, Shoaib Akthar, Mohammad Sami, Abdul Razzaq and Shoaib Malik. Secondly, it was a game that demanded a lot physically from him.
In that game, Pakistan were put to bat by Sanath Jayasuriya. They were bowled out for 234 in 67 overs. What that meant was that Sri Lanka had to face the remaining 21 overs in the day. And unlike these days, Sanga was keeping wickets at that point.
Waqar removed Marvan Atapattu in the first ball of the innings. In walked Sanga to face the second ball and that was the first time the star batsman stamped his authority. That was Sanga’s first double hundred. His knock set up a rare win away from home in the finals of the Asian Test Championship.
