On Tuesday, the former skipper of Sri Lanka picked his all-time XI as a part of a new documentary for Lord's Cricket ground. Interestingly, Kumar Sangakkara picked three of his teammates ahead of Sachin Tendulkar, widely regarded as the “God of cricket”. Even Australian Glenn McGrath did not make the cut into the final XI. Cricket fans around the world are baffled by the exclusion of these two players.
In fact, no other Indian other than Rahul Dravid seemed to be good enough for Sangakkara. He had apparently contemplated including McGrath but left him out in favour of his former teammate Chaminda Vaas. Spinners Muttiah Muralitharan and Shane Warne were named, as were Matthew Hayden and Ricky Ponting. Brian Lara, who Sangakkara has always held in high regard, featured as the third batsman in the line up.
Also read: Kumar Sangakkara omits Sachin Tendulkar in his greatest XI
Needless to say, the announcement ruffled the feathers of a nation which practically worships Sachin Tendulkar for his contributions to the game. A lot of people ended up questioning his decisions on Twitter and Sangakkara was pushed to the backfoot where he actually had to defend his mysterious screening process. To an unbiased observer of the sport, it might seem a bit odd that only one player from a country that has contributed so much to cricket, had made the list.
When the tide of over reactions died out, a couple of logical questioners posed the question that was on everyone’s mind, which elicited a response from the top order batsman.
At least he made it a point to mention that the future of Indian cricket was bright.
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