Kumar Sangakkara's swan song

By R Kaushik
Kumar Sangakkara is a great one for history. An avid reader and a relentless learner, he has also never tried to couch his determination to keep improving.

Given his attention to detail, Sangakkara must be well aware that in each of his last three Tests at the P Sara Oval, he has made a duck – against England, New Zealand and Pakistan, in that order. And even if he at least temporarily wants to blank out the fact that the second Test against India, starting at the P Sara on Thursday, will be his last act as an international cricketer, the rest of the world won’t allow him to do so.

Just watching Sangakkara at work at the P Sara on Wednesday, you wouldn’t have guessed that he was a 37 year old on the verge of hanging up his boots. Team-mates have spoken about how he just bats on and on and on in the nets, ironing out kinks, enjoying feeling the ball in the middle of the bat, tiring bowlers to distraction and frustration, until he is satisfied that he is in reasonable flow.

You got a taste of it on Wednesday. He arrived at the ground a little later than his mates, but once he entered the nets, you would have needed nothing less than a crane to lift him off it until he so deigned. Batsmen came and went – Kaushal Silva, Dimuth Karunaratne, Lahiru Thirimanne, Angelo Mathews, Dinesh Chandimal – but Sangakkara wouldn’t so much as budge an inch. Ball on bat, ball on bat, ball on bat … A relentless routine as the clock first ticked past the half hour mark, then past the hour. Hello, retirement anyone?

So, was 0, 21, 0, 16, 34, 0 playing on his mind? You suspect not. But Sangakkara wouldn’t be human if he didn’t eye a fairytale farewell, a trademark century with ‘ugly’ – his word – flourish, a series of down-on-left-knee caress-drives through the covers. He wouldn’t be unaware of the history of the P Sara – the venue of Sri Lanka’s first Test, the venue of their first Test win ever, the only venue in the Asian subcontinent where Donald Bradman has played. Oh, and as an interesting subtext, just two days back, Ravi Shastri equated Sanga to the Don.

Everyone at the P Sara wanted a part of him, and Sangakkara was as obliging as he could be, given the circumstances. There were shakes of the hand, the little chat here and the slightly longer conversation there, but for once, he was sort of in his own world.

The smile was a little less pronounced and his thoughts seemed, as Simon and Garfunkel would say, many miles away. When young Sharujan, Little Sanga, walked over to greet him as Sangakkara finally left the nets, sweat pouring out of every pore, the senior statesman slowly took off his pads, and then put his arm around the little fella as Sharujan’s doting father clicked away furiously.

Sharu respectfully took his cap off, waiting for his hero to settle down as he stood with his hands linked in front of his body and never taking his eye off Sangakkara for a second. Only after the photo shoot and "I am very tired" did Sharu exit stage left.

Sanga’s photo session wasn’t over yet; on the way to the dressing room, he was again strong-armed, this time by a young girl, but not even she could bring the famous Sanga smile out. Perhaps, the iron man is finally beginning to get caught up in the emotion of it all. Perhaps, with all the talk and the photographs and the posters and the encomiums and the tributes and the press, Sangakkara is finally waking up to the reality that he has five days, maybe even less, to live out his childhood dream of playing cricket for his country.

"From what I can see, he just wants to score a hundred tomorrow," revealed Angelo Mathews, who cut his teeth under Sangakkara and is now the skipper in his own right. "He’s worked extremely hard and is so determined to do that. I truly wish and hope he does that. It’s going to be an emotional game for him as well as for us.

He’s been with us for so long and with the national team, he’s been the backbone of Sri Lanka cricket’s batting over the past 18 years. It’s going to be a tough game for him as well emotionally but all good things have to come to an end, unfortunately.”

As they do, Angelo, as they do. Last year, Mathews was at the helm as Mahela Jayawardene bid adieu. Now, it is Sangakkara’s turn. Irrespective of, life will go on but it will never be the same again.

-Wisden India