The 16th century Galle Fort, in all its splendour, has been a spectator to many a triumph of the human spirit — from the aftermath of the devastating Tsunami in which the average Sri Lankan picked up the pieces amidst total ruin, to the more blessed among them, like Muttiah Muralitharan, picking up his 800th and last Test wicket against India in 2010 in a fairy-tale finish.
On Wednesday, under its doting eyes, yet another of the sons, Kumar Sangakkara, will be celebrated as he begins his walk towards cricketing sunset. “It’s just the place. It’s my favourite Test ground in the world. It’s a great backdrop to play against,” said Sangakkara.
“I think of Galle for all of Sri Lankan cricket. We have always managed to win a lot of Test matches here.”
Enviable recordSangakkara has an enviable record in Galle — 1876 runs at 53.60 in 22 Tests, including seven hundreds.
It’s much like his exploits elsewhere — 11 double-centuries (just one short of Donald Bradman’s 12), a Test average of 58.04, fastest to every mark from 8000 to 12000 runs, series win in England, 2014 Twenty20 World Cup and so on.
Is there anything that’s missing? “We would have loved a 50-over World Cup win as well. We had two chances which we didn’t convert. It would have been nice to win a few more Test matches away, in Australia.
Beating England 1-0 was the best overseas tour I have been on. So there are a lot of things that could have been but I think that’s the way the game goes. There are regrets but not regrets that I will be thinking about for years.”
As a batsman, Sangakkara’s legion of fans has always transcended borders. But such is the finesse that in his later years he seems to have become a purist’s delight everywhere. “I used to have these arguments with Thilan Samaraweera in the dressing room about who had had the best looking forward defensive shot in the Sri Lankan side,” he recollected. “He always told me that I had the ugliest and Mahela (Jayawardene) and Marvan (Attapattu) had the nicest.
“They always say left-handers were extremely graceful. I watch (Brian) Lara, Upul Tharanga and Lahiru Thirmanne from the younger lot. Whenever I play the cover drive, with the back knee bent and head back, I just say to myself how can that be stylish.”
The Sri Lankans are always known to be affable characters. But their on-field aggression is never masked. “Whenever you meet a Sri Lankan, you meet him with a smile. At times, we used to get upset with Murali because he always kept smiling at the opposition.
“I remember when Andrew Flintoff, who was going through a bad patch with the bat, came to Sri Lanka. Murali was getting him out for fun.
“Freddie came to Galle and Murali told him ‘Freddie, first ball off-break, push me down and get a single’. Murali bowled an off-break and Freddie pushed and ran for single. Four overs later, Murali got him bowled.”
Wonderful human beingAs much as people know the 38-year-old to be an on-field great, his off-field persona is said to mirror it. ‘An incredibly wonderful human being’ is what most people describe him as. The latter will gain more traction, now that much of his life will be away from cricket.
“Lot of people make up their mind about cricketers. They see the person on the field and build assumptions. You rarely see us when we are at home, with family and friends.
“That would be a lot of valuable insight. It’s not an opportunity many of you’ll get. I’ve been blessed to have a great support structure at home, with parents, wife, children and especially friends.
“Beyond this, I don’t know what I will do. I’ll be playing couple of more years of cricket and then may be find a real job.”
To many, Sangakkara is the quintessential cricket intellectual. A pointer to that was in his answer when asked how he wanted to be remembered in the future. “I think everyone remembers you differently. When you play, you see yourself in one way. When you retire, you see yourself as slightly better than what you actually were. That’s the way cricketers are.
“But, I just want to be remembered as who I was, how I played and how I interacted with the team. The experiences we shared together, the wins, the losses, everything.”
