Kumar Sangakkara has always pushed the case of Angelo Mathews. The latter made his Test debut when Sangakkara was captain in 2009. Four years later Sangakkara is playing under Mathews and his century in the first innings could have set up Mathews’ first Test win.
Over the last 13 years, Kumar Sangakkara has had an awesome run. Much criticized and even disliked by the fans at the start of his career, because he had replaced the beloved ‘Little Kalu’, Sangakkara with sheer hard work earned his place in the side and once cemented his spot, he has done everything within his means and beyond to become the country’s most successful batsman ever.
Today he has scored most centuries for Sri Lanka and only six other players have scored more hundreds than him in Test cricket. His average of 57 plus in Test cricket is better than Lara, Kallis, Ponting, Dravid, and even Tendulkar, all modern day greats.
Today, Sangakkara has become the darling of Sri Lankan cricket with both the young and old. Sunil Perera, one of Sri Lanka’s leading entertainers, the other day called Sanga a person that all Sri Lankans need to look up to. Off the field, he has been such a good ambassador for the country that you often get confused whether to admire his cricket or personality.
Injury had kept him out for nearly three months and after entering the cricket field without even a warm up game under his belt, Sangakkara went onto score three consecutive hundreds.
“Every hundred I score is equally fine for me. I really don’t judge if this was better or that was better. Whatever the situation the team is in, you go out there to score some runs. That’s the way to get the team out of a bad situation. My thinking pattern was just to go out there and bat. It was not a wicket or an outfield when you can go out there and play your strokes. All I thought was that I’m just going to wait and make sure the bowlers get tired and that I’m still hanging around when they do get tired,” Sangakkara told journalists yesterday.
Barring Sangakkara and Dinesh Chandimal, most batsmen have struggled to score runs freely and patience becomes a key factor in accumulating runs on the R. Premadasa track. “The wicket is not too bad for batting, but there’s a bit of inconsistent bounce and the wicket’s a bit two paced, and the outfield is quite sluggish. It’s quickened up a bit maybe today after lunch. And maybe it will quicken up in the next two days as well. All of that makes run scoring a bit difficult. Maybe the bowlers will fancy themselves a chance of tying a batsman down and then building pressure to try and get him out.”
“I think this is one of the slowest outfields that I’ve ever played on. It’s unfortunate that it was not cut on all the days that we have played. We’ve got to live with that – that’s beyond the control of either team. It’s nice to keep scoring runs and that’s something I push myself to do, no matter who I play and how many Test matches I play.”
Speaking on the state of the game, Sangakkara stressed the need to take all chances that come the fielders’ way. “It would have been brilliant to have them five down. We had the opportunities, though a close decision also didn’t go our way towards the end. We’ve got ourselves to blame. One quite an easy chance and one not so easy. It’s important, because we want to go into a fourth or fifth day in the last innings of a Test match with as little to chase as possible.”
Sangakkara praised the efforts of left-arm spinner Rangana Herath, who has so far taken eight wickets in the game and remains the key for the hosts. “You saw that even in the first innings when the wicket was supposed to be seaming around or swinging or quick, but it wasn’t really. It was Rangana that came and got us that important five wickets, so he’s always going to be an important bowler. The fast bowlers I thought bowled well in partnerships, and as they keep playing – they’re quite an inexperienced attack – they’ll get a lot better. If there’s more turn tomorrow, I think both Dilshan and Rangana will be important for us,” Sangakkara added.
