The left-handed master of cricket, Kumar Sangakkara held his last press conference before the Indian series on Tuesday afternoon in Galle.
Kumar Sangakkara’s Final Press Conferene
The left-handed master of cricket, Kumar Sangakkara held his last press conference before the Indian series on Tuesday afternoon in Galle.
Posted by ThePapare.com on Tuesday, August 11, 2015
Kumar Sangakkara in his final address to the media in Galle ©ThePapare.com
Sri Lanka versus India three-match series will commence on 12th August and the world’s second highest ODI run-scorer made his final thoughts to the media before retiring from the game in Colombo after the second Test match.
“We would have loved to won a 50-over World Cup as well, we got two chances but we could not win. Would have been nice to win a few more Test matches away from home, would have been great to have won in Australia. It would have been great to have won a Test series in India as well. “ Sanga spoke on what he could not achieve as a cricketer.
Sangakkara is Sri Lanka’s most successful test batsman with 12,305 runs in 132 matches. He is fifth on the all-time list and his average of 58.31 is the second-highest for any batsman with more than 7,000 runs.
The quickest batsman to 8,000, 9,000, 10,000, 11,000 and 12,000 runs, Sangakkara has notched 38 test centuries. He also has 11 double-centuries, only one short of Sir Donald Bradman’s record of 12. His only triple century (319) came against Bangladesh last year.
“Galle has been great for all of Sri Lanka cricket. This was Murali’s favourite hunting ground and we have managed to win a lot of Test matches here. It is my favourite Test ground in the world. As players we love coming here. “ Sanga spoke on playing at the picturesque Galle International Stadium.
“I used to have this argument with Thilan Samaraweera in the dressing room about who had the best looking forward defense in the Sri Lanka side and Thilan always said I had the ugliest forward defense he has ever seen. He said Mahela and Marvan had the nicest defense, but I always told him that I am at peace with the amount of runs I score. “ Sangakkara lamented on his batting style.
While many feel there is still plenty of cricket left in the 37-year-old, Sangakkara made it clear he did not want to wait for his form to decline. He was contemplating retiring after the World Cup in March, but selectors persuaded him to stay on for the first two tests against India.
“Retiring from cricket is not about form,” the former Sri Lanka captain said. “I feel that the time’s now and it’s right. I think a lot of better players have gone and the game has gone on. There are new players who take the mantle, and in my case it won’t be any different.”
Kumar Sangakkara’s rise as a batsman came after giving up wicket-keeping and he made his thoughts on that as well, “ I did not want to give up keeping but the selection committee at that time wanted me to concentrate on my batting only and in the end it paid me off. “
