A decade or so ago, Australia was the team that Sri Lankan fans didn’t want their team lose to. But things have changed quite dramatically.
Sri Lankan fans tend to go easy on Australia these days. Their number one enemy has turned out to be neighbouring India. You could have got a sense of what it meant for Sri Lankan fans to beat India, had you gone into social media sites – twitter or facebook on Friday. Star batsman Kumar Sangakkara was their darling as Sri Lanka won a cliff-hanger in Fatullah.
A contest to find the most popular Sri Lankan will see the star Sri Lankan cricketer emerging on top.
It’s hard to forget country’s first heroes and even those who were adamant that Aravinda de Silva was a better batsman than Sangakkara are coming to terms with reality. Aravinda was a magician when on the mood and none have given the thrills he has, but when it comes to consistency Sanga has few peers. While Aravinda had the flamboyance with his swashbuckling batting that was at his best when the going got tough, Sanga with limited talent but sheer hard work has helped put Sri Lanka in the world map.
Not only as the greatest Sri Lankan batsman, but by the time he quits, Sangakkara will have become the greatest cricketer the country has produced ahead of Muttiah Muralitharan as his numbers would prove hard to ignore.
On Friday Sangakkara scripted a famous win over India with a fabulous century. The job, however, is half done as Sri Lankan fans are looking up to him to take the side through in the finals to end numerous disappointments against the Indians in big games.
We see young players breaking into the senior side with a massive impact, but they lack consistency and most of them fade away. Sangakkara made a difference though. From the day he made his debut in 2000, he has been a consistent performer. Of every five games he plays, Sanga fires at least on three occasions. Hence an ODI average of 40.59, easily the best by a Sri Lankan.
Last year, it was clear that by the time he retires, Sanga would have broken most batting records. One that we thought will remain untouched is Sanath Jayasuriya’s 28 ODI centuries. Friday saw Sanga scoring his 18th and if he doesn’t give up limited overs cricket after 2015 World Cup, the record for most centuries by a Sri Lankan in ODIs will be broken as well.
There’s a lot to learn from Sanga for young batsmen. Until he feels comfortable, Sanga plays with a straight bat and then cuts loose. If the situation demands he will improvise as well, as he did while scoring a career best 169 against the Proteas last year at R. Premadasa Stadium.
Steady and neat was what Sanga’s batting known for, but early last year he added improvisation as well having spent considerable time in the nets practising what he wanted to execute. It was coach Graham Ford who made him realise that batsmen needed to search for ways to have an edge as the modern game was becoming highly competitive. So Sanga tried out the paddle sweep, reverse sweep, scoop and various other shots in the nets and executed them to devastating effect against the Proteas. The reverse sweep, however, has been spared so far and the moment he feels comfortable with it, Sanga will unleash that too.
The other remarkable thing about Sanga is that he remains a keen student of the game. During the game against India, Sunil Gavaskar in commentaries pointed out how Sanga had found out that the first ball of a Mohammad Shami over usually was a slower ball.
That ability to read the game was what made him an excellent Sri Lankan captain. When Sanga was in charge, one of the things he stressed was to give priority to training and preparations. The very facets that made him a successful batsman, he tried to inculcate into his team and as a result Sri Lanka excelled in all three formats of the game. It was a pity that his captaincy only lasted for two years. His reasons to step down were rather flimsy, but it wouldn’t be a surprise if he conceded that numerous run ins he had with a highly politicised administration was a key factor.
Sanga keeps breaking batting records. Last month he become only the second man to score a triple hundred and a hundred in a Test Match and was the fastest to 11,000 Test runs. He was also the fastest to 9,000 and 8,000 Test runs while the record of being the fastest to 10,000 runs is shared by him with Brian Lara and Sachin Tendulkar.
Sanga will join Sanath Jayasuriya as the only players to have scored 1,000 runs in Asia Cups. Currently he is on 997 with an average of 52.00.
Not only his work ethic, but Sanga’s exemplary conduct is something for everyone to follow. How often you see, members of the national cricket team lining up for the national anthem with the shades (sunglasses) on and hardly saying a word. Take a closer look at Sanga. He recites the national anthem with pride and doesn’t wear any shades.
Sanga’s cricket, intelligence, oratory skills and honesty are admired by all and sundry and by far he is the most popular Sri Lankan cricketer. He has used that popularity to fight battles away from the cricket field too. Currently he fights a lone battle against certain elements within the cricket establishment who are harmful for the good health of the game.
Sanga nearly paid a price for his bravery as there was a sinister move to leave him out of the side during the Champions Trophy. Those who want Sanga out had waited patiently and after Sri Lanka had a poor game against New Zealand, were working behind the scenes to have him out of the side saying they wanted to groom youngsters for the 2015 World Cup. Thankfully the selectors resisted the orders and Sanga responded with a magnificent hundred at the Oval against England.
Later last year, when he wrote the following in an e-mail to a board official, he would have been referring to the above incident. “I do not have the luxury of standing for election, but have to prove my worth to selectors day in and day out in order to retain my place in the team and safeguard my job and livelihood.”
For all his achievements, Sanga has not won an ICC event. Sri Lanka lost the 2007 and 2011 World Cups and 2009 and 2012 World T-20. The tournaments in 2011 and 2009 were under his captaincy. His career will be complete the day he wins an ICC event, ideally a 50-over World Cup, which comes in once in four years. Sanga will have a go at the World T-20 crown that Sri Lanka narrowly missed two years ago later this month while the World Cup campaign will begin in less than 12 months from now.
Perhaps, that’s what prompts people to put Aravinda ahead of Sanga still. The former helped the country win a World Cup and that too against the most dreaded Sri Lankan opponent those days.
