For a split-second, I thought he was going to hit me. I’d gone to the team hotel to meet Mahela Jayawardene, Sri Lanka’s captain, but the first person I came across in the lobby was his great friend, Kumar Sangakkara. The previous afternoon – in a World Cup final now remembered for Adam Gilchrist’s squash-ball-in-glove heroics, floodlight failures and farcical organisation – Sangakkara and Sanath Jayasuriya had, for just over one quixotic hour, made the impossible seem plausible. Needing 282 from 38 overs, they were cruising at 102 for one from 16, with the asking rate just over eight.
Not long after, Sangakkara had miscued a pull to short midwicket, triggering a domino-like collapse that saw Sri Lanka fall well short. “You gave it away, champ,” I said, realising immediately that it wasn’t the cleverest opening line to offer a losing finalist. Instead of a fit of pique, however, Sangakkara responded with a wry smile. “These things happen, eh? That’s sport.”
Four years later, after another World Cup final loss, to India, he told me that winning World Cups was about “doing something special”.
“We haven’t been able to do that in two finals,” he added. His contributions in those two games were 54 and 48. Against India, in the final of the World Twenty20 in 2014, he made 52, but this time, it was special enough to bring home the global trophy that Sri Lanka had craved ever since Arjuna Ranatunga’s side whetted the appetite with success in the 1996 World Cup.
As good as he was in coloured clothes, though, it is in whites that Sangakkara will be recalled as one of cricket’s titans. Not as feted as Tendulkar, not as easy on the eye as Lara, and not as feisty as Ponting, he was nevertheless more consistent than any other batsman of his era. Since Sir Garfield Sobers played his final Test in 1974, no batsman has averaged more than Sangakkara’s 57.71. In 85 Tests sans the keeping gloves, that figure is an astonishing 67.39. Add in the fact that he didn’t average below 40 against a single side he played against, and it’s easy to see why there’s a compelling case to be made for Sangakkara being first among equals.
“He has got runs the world over and scored double hundreds [only Sir Donald Bradman, with 12, has more] like it is a pastime,” said Ravi Shastri, India’s team director, before Sangakkara’s farewell Test at the P Sara Oval in Colombo. “Every Sri Lankan should be proud of what he has achieved, not just personally but the way he has conducted himself in going round the world as an international cricketer. You can call him one of the statesmen of the modern game.”
Virat Kohli, India’s captain, was no less effusive. “I’m actually glad that he’s going to be playing his last match against us,” he said. “It’s a special occasion for us to be a part of. As a young side, it’ll be an honour for us to give him that respect.”
As much as the sheer weight of runs, Sangakkara will be remembered for his erudition. He was also nobody’s fool. He quit the captaincy in disgust after the 2011 World Cup, alluding to the turmoil behind the scenes by saying: “It can get combative and frustrating.” When the board and some former players then tried to paint the players as mercenaries for honouring their IPL contracts, he didn’t back down.
“Cricket is different in that there’s so much emphasis on the spirit of the game, which I think is magnificent,” he said. “But at the same time, that shouldn’t mean unfairness to players. If you want to safeguard Test cricket, there should be no question of backing players into a corner where they have no way out.”
He was at his most eloquent when speaking for the fans. He finished the Cowdrey Lecture in 2011 with these words: “They 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, Sinhalese, Muslim and Burgher. I am a Buddhist, a Hindu, a follower of Islam and Christianity. I am today, and always, proudly Sri Lankan.”
When the second Test against India ends, he can hope to spend more time with his smaller family – Yehali, his wife, and Kavith and Swyree, his six-year-old twins. In a recent interview, Yehali told Wisden India: “We, as a family, were blessed to have good family, good friends who kept us grounded. All I can say is he had a wonderful career and in every sportsman’s career there is a place and time to go. This is the right moment and time. It’s always good to go on a high, rather than when people ask why he’s not leaving.”
At a venue where he once made a series-winning 144 against them (2008), India – 1-0 down in the series after losing a Galle Test they largely dominated – will fervently hope that there’s no Bradmanesque twist in an epic batting tale.
