Why Kumar Sangakkara is the Perpetual People’s Player

“I’m glad the fans voted for me and I’m extremely proud and honoured to have won that.” Sangakkara on Dialog People’s Player award.

At the mention of the name the word ‘phenomenal’ comes to mind.  Kumar Sangakkara has commanded iconic status for more than a decade now and continues to dazzle the Sri Lankan and World stage.

Kumar Chokshanada Sangakkara has broken all barriers and set unattainable standards by winning the People’s Player award 5 successive years; 2010/2011/2012/2013/2014. In the recently concluded Dialog Sri Lanka Cricket Awards he once again bagged the Dialog People’s Player  the award which is completely voted for by the people to forever be engraved as the man of the people.

This fame and popularity does not center only around the island shores as he has equally captured the hearts around the world, winning the ICC People’s Choice Award in 2011 and 2012 as well.

Sangakkara began his trail-blazing run when he was just a school boy winning all-island championships at Badminton and Tennis which was his first passion until the age of 16. A not too much talked about Ryde Gold Medal, the most prestigious honour at his alma mater Trinity College which is also a vote by the entire senior school body and teachers was perhaps his first such popularity benchmark.  It is essentially presented only if there is a worthy recipient and awarded for top academic and all-round achievements. The coveted Trinity Lion’ was another  pocketed by him.

His school cricket passage is generally observed as average and he made his first-class debut for NCC in 1998. He won his Test cap for Sri Lanka in 2000 and in the same year he started his ODI career as a wicket-keeper batsman after scoring a brilliant 156 against Zimbabwe at Moratuwa in a tour game.

The articulate left-hander quietly escalated himself as ‘an influential cricketer’. Quotes from Sangakkara were fiercely sought after and he soon became the media’s darling.  He also became an aggressive competitor taking the opposition full-on and his stirring taunts behind the wickets only went on to further colour his demeanour.

During the 2003 World Cup, Sangakkara showed his other side as a fighter heckling Shaun Pollock in the infamous “pressure for the skippy.” soliloquy much to the amusement of fans around the world.

When the southpaw gave away his gloves to stake a claim in the side only as a batsman, not many would have predicted a miraculous turn around in his numbers. Kumar Sangakkara puts Test cricket above all other forms of the game and has been scoring heavily since.

At the age of 31, Sangakkara became Jayawardene’s successor to lead the Sri Lanka team after having played 80 Tests and 246 ODIs. He led Sri Lanka to the finals of the ICC World T20 in 2009 in his first assignment as the Captain. 

Sangakkara’s statistics as a player proves his worth and his fighting knocks such as the 192 he made against Australia in Hobart was a much-talked about passage as was the 624 partnership with his good mate, Mahela Jayawardene at SSC in 2006 where his share was 287.

The legend has missed 3 centuries getting out in the 90s and in addition to his 192 in Hobart where he was deprived of a double century, he was also dismissed at 192 vs Pakistan at SSC and was extremely unfortunate to be left stranded on 199 also vs Pakistan in Galle.

While all of this is above average what is most significant is his popularity among the people. His facebook page has topped 2.5m likes and while it is impossible to put the finger on exactly what makes this man such a figure, it does not pose too much of a paradox either.

His charity initiatives are far and wide; he is a member of the Think Wise Initiative launched by ICC, joint United Nations program on HIV/AIDS and UNICEF. He is also a partner of the Foundation of Goodness, a charity launched by Muttiah Muralitharan which extends to the Bikes for Life campaign.  He is also involved in the CCC Lines & CCC House(Courage Compassion and Commitment)providing services in areas of cancer and mental well-being and raises funds for the Ragama centre for children with disabilities which is an initiative involving Dialog as well.

The Colin Cowdrey Memorial Lecture was an oration that brought the stoic MCC to their feet in adulation. The eminent writer Peter Roebuck called Kumar’s lecture the “most important speech in the history of cricket”.

 When MS Dhoni smashed Kulasekara out of the ground in 2011 and won the World cup, Sangakkara the opposition skipper had a wry smile on his face.  But overcoming the disappointment, he took sweet revenge on the Indians in 2014 when he anchored Sri Lanka to victory in the ICC World T20 final, which he has described as one his most memorable moments. 

As good wine gets better with age and so has Sangakkara as the latter part of his career has taken off in unfathomable proportions, on its way to becoming one of the greatest batsman ever to play the sport of cricket.

Sangakkara’s international career statistics

Words, adjectives and accolades are hard to sum-up the vibrant personality that has literally crept into the hearts of the people.  Baffled by this singularity ThePapare.com set out to seek the people’s views. He was the first stop and we tried to put him on a spot asking him why he thinks people voted for him, he cackled with laughter but his typical riposte was “I think that’s a question you’ll have to ask them but I don’t spend a lot of time thinking why they voted me, I just try to do the right thing and play the way I believe in and it’s up to them to vote for the correct person’. But on his latest award the Dialog People’s Player of the Year 2014, he ventured to ThePapare.com “I’m glad the fans voted for me and I’m extremely proud and honoured to have won that.” 

Dialog People’s Player of the year Kumar Sangakkara interacting with fans at the Dialog Cricket Awards 2014 : Pic by Mudith Jayasekara ©ThePapare.com

ThePapare.com set about quizzing the throngs of fans as to why they think Kumar Sangakkara keeps collecting People’s awards and here are some excerpts –

Sangakkara’s team mate Rangana Herath expressed his views as well “Lankan people really love cricket and they love Sangakkara very much as they love all of us. I’m really happy that ‘Sanga’ won the award. “

Lankan fast bowler Chanaka Welagedara too shared his thoughts “I think the people’s choice is the correct one. I think people voted because they love his playing style and his continuous performances. “

An analytical summation was from a corporate manager ‘he markets himself very well and he is so very convincing’

School girl Dharini revealed her love for Sangakkara in unstinted fashion  “First of all, the fact that Sangakkara won the People’s Player award 5 times is no surprise.  People love him and respect him because he doesn’t pretend to be a star. He is everything!!  He is a good cricketer, a good student, a good husband and a good leader. (Not to mention the good looks!) I don’t know what people see in him, but every time I see him, I look at someone who does his best to get better every day regardless of what he has achieved. I think that’s what matters in a good sportsman. He is proof that cricket is a collective effort. When he rises up, he pulls his fellow mates with him. Sanga showed that true sportsmanship is not pilling up trophies but leaving an impression on people that will stand even if they fall.  People -including myself- value him so much because he values each one of us in the same way.“  

Sri Lanka cricket team trainer Darshan Weerasinghe put his words perfectly “ Sangakkara is the quintessential modern cricketer. He is intelligent, articulate and he presents a lovely image to the public as he handles himself very well. He is more than a person, He is an institution. “

Business woman Christina –“From the inception, Sangakkara captured the imagination of his fans, male and female alike. His prowess with the bat and gloves as well as his well-mannered, his meticulous and calculating game was the talk of the town.  It’s no wonder we all choose this man as Our Player. He is the voice of a nation, on that stretch of wicket”.

22-year old company intern gave his thoughts to www.thepapare.com as well “The most popular player of the year’ award is something which is more than performance on the field. It’s for the beautiful person that people see in him plus the way he interacts with fans whether it’s on the field, one-to-one basis, handling the press or conducting himself in public.“

The astute media guy mentioned thus ‘he is well-read and has read enough to know how to present himself, but the biggest bonus is that he is as genuine as he comes-across’.

Citizen Silva says ‘he instills pride in our hearts, he brings glory to his motherland and he seems truly a good person’.

A financial mogul who does not hold back  ‘He is a public giant among the public pygmies in this country!!

Housewife Minnie ‘he is genuinely nice and down to earth, smiles and talks to everyone, the people just love him’.

Media editor ‘he has a tremendous work ethic, each time he fails he gets back to work. Also statistically today he has got to the top and will work hard to remain among the greats, engraving himself in the annals of cricket.  People see this- how he intensified himself from average to sublime’.

Finally quoting lines from his world-hailed Colin Cowdrey oratory ‘”Fans of different races, castes, ethnicities and religions who together celebrate their diversity by uniting cricket, a common national cause; those fans are my foundation, they are my family. I will play my cricket for them. Their spirit is the true spirit of cricket. With me are all my people. I am Tamil, I am Sinhalese, I am Muslim and Burgher. I am a Buddhist, I am a Hindu, a follower of Islam and Christianity, but above all  today, and always, I will be proudly Sri Lankan.”  – Kumar Sangakkara.

This is Sri Lanka’s and the World’s People’s Player.