It was too
much to gulp down; a tear emerging in an unexpected moment. After his emotional
alter ago had made his exit a few months back, the fans would have wanted the
shrewd strategist and the stern diplomat to make an eloquent speech before
waving his final goodbye. After all, it is not every day that Kumar Choksanada
Sangakkara wears his heart on his sleeve—but when he does, it tugs at the
nation’s heartstrings more than his double centuries, stumpings and the World
Cup win that the country was long starving for.
It
was no easy holding a nation in awe, and that too for such a long time.
He
did not have as elaborate a start as his buddy did. Having arrived in the
dressing room almost two years after Mahela Jayewardene was officially named
the heir to the helm of Sri Lankan cricket, he did not look as if he was in a
haste to prove himself either.
Thus
began the bumpy carrier of Kumar Sangakkara; he was not always as sure-footed
behind the wicket as he became of late. It is hard to escape the picture of him
giving a lost look when a ball escapes past between his legs, or the childish
wave of amber gloves when he missed out a stumping.
As
much as he has been accurate to the last letter of the book in his batting, we
have cheered when an opponent drops him off, consequent to a careless stroke.
His
first test hundred in Galle against India on a one fine August day, was all I
can remember of a school holiday fourteen years ago. Even then, his square cuts
were worth dying for; the cover-drives not as perfected and patented as they
are now, could make one yearn to see more. The Country was passing a dry spell
and hence the scheduled power cuts to ration hydro-power electricity would
sometimes mar the fun; until the long abandoned battery powered radio received
new batteries and tuned to the live broadcast of the match.
In
Sri Lanka the popular cricket myth is that, in order to make it rain in Kandy,
hold a cricket match at Asgiriya—Sangakkara’s school ground and the only
international venue in the world owned by a school. The second match was a
fluff—spoiled by the much expected rain and the lack of heroics from the home
side-- but the concluding one at the SSC, ended with a series win.
The
following test series with Windies saw him scoring another ton of 140, getting
Mahela Jayewardene run out at 99 in the process. He caused the same havoc to
his Skipper Jayasuriya, when the latter was toiling with a match saving knot of
99 in Adelaide in 2003—the ugliest waltz the critics saw and that too on a
cricket pitch.
Ironically,
the first test match that was not telecast in Sri Lanka was the Asian Test
Championship final played against Pakistan in Lahore in 2002—a venue that
invoke mixed feelings among Sri Lankan fans—for its world cup victory in 1996
and that of the deadly terror attack on the Sri Lankan team. Fans will remember
it for one more reason—the first double hundred of Kumar —a worthy 230 that
made Sri Lanka the test champions in Asia.
Sangakkara
took time to score his first ODI hundred. Having concluded a fruitless World
Cup Tour in South Africa, which nearly cost him his place in the team, Shajah
Cup 2003 saw him scoring his maiden hundred against Pakistan, and another in
the very next match against Zimbabwe.
Much
has been written about his long standing partnership with Mahela Jayewardene;
some analytical and others bordering somewhat on the emotional lines. Google is
over-brimming with images of the two of them complimenting each other in the
middle. They even faced the ice-bucket challenge together.
The
most fascinating picture I carry in my heart of the two of them is, when Angelo
Mathews (who was not even the captain then) was helping young Chandimal to
score an ODI hundred at the Lord’s with what seemed to be a comfortable win
inclusive of the impeding century—how, behind the angry-faced Skipper
Dilshan—Mahela and Kumar were smilingly looking at the two youngsters in the
middle.
Their
prophetic smiles have been proven true!
A
record keeper’s memory would do more justice, but a fan would only remember the
quirks and the limited doses of glory that game had for those who lived the
moment to the fullest.
The
Sangakkara I saw and saw through was not the finest to the last line of the
script. Since of late, he allowed the liberty to have his face painted on every
other hording. At times he was subject to scorn of others when he started
endorsing one mobile connection partner after another.
He
is not a paragon of perfection as the media would hype him to be; but a human
being, beauteously flawed to the last fibre. Yet he had carried a nation home
safely, more often than any other ambassador has ever done, which makes one
forget quite easily his dropped catches and careless shots played direct to the
hands of fielders.
Oscar
Wilde had a wicked wit, and any ardent reader of his, needs to have the
wickedness somewhere imbibed into his charm. And Kumar Sangakkara is no
exception.
(--which makes him all the more qualified to become the Sri
Lankan High Commissioner to the United Kingdom!)
