Emotionally overwhelmed after signing off his Twenty20 international career with the world title, Sri Lankan veteran Kumar Sangakkara said the triumph left him feeling humble about his own abilities and grateful towards the game of cricket.
It turned out to be a fitting farewell for Sangakkara and his illustrious teammate Mahela Jayawardene as Sri Lanka triumphed at the ICC World T20, beating India by six wickets in the title clash here on Sunday night.
Asked about his feelings having won the Cup, he understandably thrilled. “It’s amazing. I can’t explain it. This is the first time that I have been a part of a team that has won a World Cup. We’d been disappointed four times before. It’s hard to describe exactly what you feel, but you feel humble,” said the veteran batsman, who was named man of the match for his 52-run knock in the game.
“You realise how difficult it is to get here, how much support you need, not just from your team-mates, but from your family, your fans, the support staff. You can never do anything alone… At moments like this, you have to look back, reflect and be thankful for that support, because without that you wouldn’t be here,” he added.
Perfect end
The 36-year-old former captain said it was the perfect way to sign off. “It’s been an amazing journey. It’s time to walk away, and to walk away like this is even better,” Sangakkara said.
“I don’t think the game owes us, or any player, anything. Our job is to try and play it as best as we can and walk away, hopefully having made a positive impact. The game gives us the opportunities and it’s up to us to try and take them,” Sangakkara said at the post-match press conference.
“We had four opportunities before this, and today we took it. You need a bit of ability, luck, planning, execution. Also being at the right place at the right time,” the veteran said after he got a hearty applause from the media contingent.
Dhoni defends Yuvi
An exhausted and disappointed Indian cricket captain MS Dhoni found it tough to explain Yuvraj Singh’s painstakingly slow batting in the lost World Twenty20 final against Sri Lanka but insisted that the under-fire player tried his best.
Yuvraj’s 21-ball 11 was a major factor in India totalling a mere 130 after being put in to bat on Sunday night. Sri Lanka overhauled the target in 17.5 overs after losing just four wickets.
“It was an off day for Yuvraj. He tried his best but it’s not easy to come in and start slogging from ball one,” Dhoni said at the post-match press conference where most of the questions centred on Yuvraj’s performance. There were a few which Dhoni completely deflected during his shortest media interaction in the whole tournament.
‘Individual more disappointed than fans’
Dhoni was specifically asked about Yuvraj’s future in the team considering others have more or less performed their duties or at least have age on their side.
The smiling skipper gave an open-ended reply.
“Indian cricket season is over, and now we have all domestic tournaments including the Indian Premier League. The next selection is far away so let’s not talk about it.”
There had been angry reactions from the fans and Dhoni got a bit serious while answering a query. “Look, you need to understand that fans can be angry but they can’t be more disappointed than the individual who is out there in the middle. As a player you don’t want to do badly in front of 40000 people… But off days happen… And it can happen with any athlete. May be it was an off-day for him (Yuvraj). Fans will be disappointed but it is the player who is always more disappointed than the fans,” he explained.
Dhoni was all praise for the Sri Lankan team, especially the manner they bowled “wide yorkers” at the death.
“We wanted to score as many runs as possible in last four overs but credit to Lankan bowlers. They bowled perfect wide yorkers. I for one, know that Malinga bowls these superb wide yorkers. They got only one wide during that phase. They executed their plans brilliantly.”
“We were a bit disappointed at the break for not having scored more than 130 but then we were thinking about Champions Trophy. It was also a 20-over match but here we had one fielder more outside the circle,” he added.
