Cricket will miss Kumar Sangakkara & Michael Clarke

Michael Clarke’s Test retirement was possibly hurried by the manner of Australia’s defeat in the 4^th Ashes Test

Last month, the cricket world saw the contrasting retirements of two great modern day batsmen - Australian skipper Michael Clarke & Sri Lanka’s highest run scorer Kumar Sangakkara. While Sangakkara's retirement, much like many of his innings was planned well in advance, Clarke had gone on record to say that retirement was not on his mind till as late as the end of the third Ashes Test. It will always remain a debatable topic whether Clarke would have retired had Australia won the 4th Test.

Not a fairytale ending

For the record, India played spoilsport in Sangakkara's last match by defeating Sri Lanka by 278 runs whereas the Australians won their last match for skipper Clarke by a whopping margin of an innings and 46 runs. But now that the two greats have retired, the result of these two matches are immaterial when we look at their long and successful careers.

Yes, it would have been a fitting end to their illustrious careers had the Australians won the Ashes and had the Lankans defeated Indians at the P Sara Oval, but as we know fairytale ending are rare in life and rarer in sports.

Illustrious Careers

Kohli presents Sangakkara with the Indian team’s tribute upon his retirement

Coming back to their careers, Sangakkara with 12400 Test runs at an average of 57.4, finished at number 5 in the list of highest Test run-scorers just behind Rahul Dravid and above the great Trinidadian Brian Lara. One doesn’t need any further explanation and these stats alone are enough to put Sanga in the list of great batsmen. Now his father is entitled to have a different opinion – as per him Sangakkara could have achieved a lot more with the talent that he possessed. Talk about parental pressure and here is an apt example.

Michael Clarke’s numbers may not be as astonishing as Sangakkara's but he too scored close to 9000 Test runs at a healthy average of 49.1. Clarke came into the Australian squad in their golden era in the mid-2000s and eventually led them to the No 1 spot in Test cricket. He finished his ODI career on a high by winning the 2015 World Cup on home soil.

Retirements are part and parcel of any game. But when two high-profile game changers retire at the same time one is bound to get filled up with emotions. The guard of honours given by the opposing teams, the standing ovations given by the crowds or the lap of honour, only add up to these emotions.

Impact on their respective teams

Sri Lanka will find it very hard to replace the duo of Sangakkara & Jayawardene

By the time the next Test series starts, both these teams would have left behind these emotions and it would be business as usual for the players. From an impact point of view to the two respective teams, in my opinion, the Aussies have historically overcome retirements of high profile players quite smoothly and there is no reason to think that they won’t be able to do it this time around as well. In Steven Smith, they already have an able replacement for Clarke the captain.

But Sri Lanka will definitely miss Sangakkara. He was by far their best batsmen in the modern era and probably also their all-time best. With Mahela Jayawardhane also retiring earlier this year, they would be without their two best players in the next series. It is a huge void no doubt and it would be interesting to see how they cope up with it.

Will always be missed by the fans

As far as the two players are concerned, they would soon get busy with their life post-cricket. Occasionally they might miss the hectic tours and schedules, but their fans will miss them forever. For the fans, there won’t be a ‘Sanga appeal’ (as Sangakkara's appeal was famously called) or Pup’s (as Clarke was fondly called) immaculate drives. Their fans will live on these memories till they get another star whom they can idolise and chant till then – “Once more walk down the ground and they’ll cheer you all night”.