Kumar Sangakkara - A look beyond the oomph of his magical numbers

Kumara Sangakkara – A look at the man behind the numbers

Fourteen years ago, a young man walked out to the middle of the hostile Centurion track to open the innings for his team, that was playing only its second Test series in the Rainbow nation. His team had been forced to follow on after it could only muster 119 in response to South Africa’s 378 in the first innings.

The captain who had scored 16 in the first innings was feeling insecure about his technique as an opener against the pace phalanx that boasted the names of Alan Donald, Makaya Ntini, Jacques Kallis and Shaun Pollock and hence, had made the 6 Test-year-old southpaw open the innings for his team.

The youngster who also happened to be a wicket keeper, walked out to bat ruffling his unkempt hair wondering whether he actually belonged to the level he was playing at – for he had only produced 3 runs more than what his opening partner would soon produce, in the first innings.

The Komodo dragon

Living in the wilderness is all about serendipity and seizing the opportunities, for only the fittest can scrape through the battle for existence. In the skirmish to prolong life, different carnivores employ different tactics to glean enough sustenance for itself and its kind. The felines have the tactic of stalking the prey and pouncing on it without warning. The audacity and bluster of the felines in wrecking a violent rampage probably have made humanity (another predatory species) see them as a totem of valor and gallantry.

The Komodo dragon, meanwhile, has a lesser titillating technique. It waits for the prey to get into its ambush region and then stealthily charges at it to spit poison into the veins by biting. Then the reptile would bask slothfully as the prey gradually gives into the deadly embrace of the poisonous protein. Once it passes out, the Komodo dragon will have its feast. While the killing style of this gigantic lizard would not attract TV channels to rave over, it gains what it wants – food for survival.

The world has seen many ostentatious batsmen who are known and remembered for their bravado in the crease. Brian Lara, Sir Viv Richards, Sachin Tendulkar and Sir Don Bradman are all known for their penchant for dominance over bowlers – a style that resembles the wild felines.

On the other end of the world are the batsmen in the ilk of the Komodo dragon who are opportunists who sit like storks waiting for moments to cease. Rahul Dravid and Jacques Kallis are the prime examples of such shrewd batsmen.

Much like the Komodo Dragon, though their batting may not rocket fuel the TRP ratings of TV channels, they did what their team needed - scoring runs. There is another one though, in the pedigree of Dravid and Kallis whom I have intentionally omitted for the purpose of providing suspense to the opening of this article; the opening is long, I know, much like the opening ritual of the subject of this article- Kumar Sangakkara.

When Sanga took the field

No, this article is not about his average of 58.04 in Tests nor about the 11 double centuries he has racked up. I am not going to write about how he scored a belligerent 74 just in his first test innings in South Africa to bring in some respect to his team’s innings while the senior counterparts were practicing slow walking to the pavilion.

I will stay away from scripting how he scored 230 on a seeming pitch against Pakistan in 2001/02 and how he notched up 157 on a capricious surface in Kandy against the West Indies when no one else crossed fifty and his team as a whole scored 7 runs less than him in the first innings. Neither am I going to write about his 95 against England on the perilous Kandy turf that almost gave his team a scent of victory in 2001 nor am I going to swank about his one hundred and fifty in wellington in New Zealand when his team mates were carrying bat to the crease like 12th men carrying drinks onto the field.

I will completely shirk how he was wrongly given out (the umpire would later apologize publicly) on 192 against Australia in the 4th innings on a crumbling Hobart track when only one other batsman crossed 50. Let me completely ignore how his numbers are holistically better than that of Sachin Tendulkar, Brian Lara and Jacques Kallis. I will not open the Pandora ’s Box to ignite yet another “who is the best” exchange of abuses.

Let me pretend to ignore the fact that he has played only 3 Test series in South Africa and only 4 tests in the West Indies in his 15-year career. This article will not dwell on how he had to bat in England in Tests during spring – where visiting teams have struggled against England’s swing bowling attack and how he didn’t play more than 3 Tests in a series.

This article will never say a word about how he and his best mate sent the trumpet players of the papare band to hospital with pneumothorax, accumulating 624 runs in 2006 against South Africa.

This article is not on how he had to squat and crouch for most part of the beginning of his career behind the stumps and then had to go and bat at number three. I am not going to write about the brittleness of the batting line-up he was a part of or how he was always the unofficial opener for the team, given the fact that the Sri Lankan openers always had the incorrigible habit off walking back to the pavilion as early as the first over.

I will hold out from speaking about the two ICC people’s choice awards, 3 Wisden awards, one ICC test cricketer of the year award, two ODI cricketer of the year award or the cricketer of the year award in 2012. Let me for a moment forget about the amount of female fan following he still has and how he has managed to age so gracefully. May the almighty grant me the nerve to resist making any comparisons between him and any other greats.

What Sanga means to Sri Lanka

Instead, let me paint Sanga beyond just numbers and awards. The planet needs to know about how he single-handedly united a war-torn country, became an unofficial emissary of peace and harmony, gave a hegemonic regime a scare and spurred up the uninspired youth of an island that is known as the teardrop of India.

Kumar Sangakkara is not just about the 12271 runs he has scored or the 179 catches he has taken. He is much more than that. His contribution to Lanka is a lot more than just numbers and trophies. He was an individualist, a social icon and a smart-alec wreathed in wisdom. His off-field laurels need to be scripted, his disparate character deserves to be documented.

The world had known Sri Lanka as punching bags in the 90s. Non sub-continental teams looked upon the islanders exactly how high school bullies look at the dainty primary school kids. In sub-continent, we were the younger brother of the two elder brothers. Outside the peninsula though, the world thought they could do whatever they wanted to, to the pliable amateurs from the Indian Ocean.

In 1995, Aravinda de Silva was malignly accused of tampering the ball. The men in blue protested but much like the voices of ants the world could not hear it. Murali was no-balled – we did not know what to do. Arjuna Ranatunga was called a fat c**t – we did not know how to retort.

There were plenty more that failed to make it to the annals of cricket. The situation changed drastically after 1996, but yet we did not know to handle sledges and abuses until Arjuna Ranatunga decided to confront the besmirched Ross Emerson in 1998. Pugnaciousness suddenly precipitated into the Lankan mind-set. But Arjuna needed an heir to relay the late-earned nugget to. Sanga received it gleefully and stemmed the trend of being international bullies.

Sanga’s sledges and their significance

There are two kinds of cricket fans: the ones who accept sledgings and the others who pretend not to. Verbal confrontations are inevitable as in every walk of life. Though verbal abuses are not welcome in the game of gentlemen, tactical sledging always has a grudging respect. Besides, lightherated dans can argue that sledgings make wonderful folklores to read during bedtime.

Chokshanada, meaning clear voice, was the first to espouse sledging in Sri Lanka and use it to get under the skin of some of the perennial culprits. “Sledging is a psychological aggression”, Sanga was heard saying in an interview.“

"The public perception of sledging is to go out there and abuse someone in obscene language, questioning their parentage or sexual preferences. That kind of abuse does not belong on the field of play. Sledging, as coined and pioneered by the Australians, is a measured comment designed to get a reaction out of a player. It could be any reaction: a bit of anger, a show of arrogance, a comment, a shake of the head, or a slump of the shoulders.”

He was the flag bearer who called out for aggression from the Sri Lankans, Indians and Pakistanis, not as a response to the wits of the bossy but as the first form of taking the attack to the oppositions. “Sri Lankans, Indians and Pakistanis, on the other hand, have always been very passive with regard to any kind of verbal aggression on the field. As a result of that we have at times been at the receiving end of a virtual running commentary of personal and abusive sledging designed to make us feel like inferior cricketers coming from inferior countries."

There is a clichéd adage in cricket- Attack is the best defence. Sanga brought this into sledging, “either you stop or we will do the same to you.” In the 2002 tour of South Africa, the hosts would receive an earful from the Lankans and end up being more flustered than the initial victims.

The south paw is a classy sledger. Someone who had the ability to turn innocuous one-liners into pernicious remarks. His sledgings are often curt and brusque that they behave like a drop of poison in a glass of milk- tiny but can spread into your brain leading it in to a tempestuous state. He does not use vile or abusive language which have no place in a civilized sport like cricket but deploys sharp wits and good humours that can hurt the ego of the unfortunate victim.

Just in his 2nd Test series at home, the legendary left hander ruffled the feathers of the tranquil Mike Atherton. A controversial catch in the first innings had made Atherton call Sangakkara a ‘cheat’, to which Sanga reminded Atherton of ‘the dirt in the pocket’ incident. A finger wagging gala succeeded it and Sanga capped off his dominance over the visitor by successfully rendering a swashbuckling 95. He manifested to the world that Asians can dish out sledgings too.

Who would dare to sledge while batting? Sanga did it once by getting underneath the skin of Gareth Batty, the English off-spinner in Kandy when he came onto bowl, quizzing him "Where's Robert Croft, England's best offspinner?" – a kind of sledging that can incinerate egoistic battles even among team members.

Sledging tactically is one thing; managing to do so with a smile is quite another thing. In Centurion, in 2002 when the South Africans were merrily motioning towards a victory, the wicket keeper started chirping. Shaun Pollock became the victim of a tongue-lash. "We don't complain when we lose away, man,". "We don't cry like in Morocco [where Sri Lanka had beaten South Africa in the final of a one-day competition in August] and say 'this is not our conditions, this is not our conditions' and go to the press conference and say the same. F***ing joke. If you win, be gracious, man. Otherwise it's s**t. Graceful, man, graceful, Shaun. Learn it."

Sledging with a smile is an art only a few have been able to master

In the same match, Mark Boucher was given a lecture in semantics. The South African wicket keeper unable to bear the ceaseless multi-barrel verbal attack from Sangakkara, strolled down the track pretending to go towards Shaun Pollock at the other end and then walked back saying, “Don’t mind, the Dog’s are shouting!”. Sanga let his calm demeanour be known, “Dog’s don’t shout mister, they Bark!!!”.

The other aspect of sledging of Kumar is that his sledgings are sired from careful research. As to how he manages to dig deep into dressing rooms to espy dressing-room skirmishes is a million-dollar question.

In the same test, Sanga noticed that Ashwell Prince had been marginalised by the rest of the team. His serendipity helped him come out with this gem: “Where’s the attitude now? Where’s the arrogance and the attitude now, huh? Are you guys rattled now? Eh? Doubting yourself , man? (are) you guys doubting yourselves now?”. “here’s Ashwell, the scapegoat of the side.”??“why don’t your teammates eat with you Ashwell??why don’t they like you? Do they think you’re not good enough? Are you good enough?”?

The habitually hard-hearted Jacque Kallis was left fuming when Sanga referred to a widely misinterpreted quote from Kallis about Sir Don Bradman. His acerbic eloquence once again rolled along a cricket ground in 2004, when he noticed that the Indian spinner Harbhajan Singh preferred short sleeves while batting but not while bowling. “Bhaji you look good in your short sleeves, why don’t you wear them when you bowl too?”?The spinner was fresh from being reported for alleged chucking.

Another South African found him in the middle of the lefthander’s way during the virtual knock out game between Sri Lanka and South Africa in 2003. The legend chucked out perhaps the greatest soliloquy in cricket which has now become a cult in Youtube. "Oh, here comes the skipper!" "He's looking nervous. Lots of pressure now. Oh, the weight of expectation! The weight of expectation! How's he going to cope?"

The epic struggle Sanga has made his body go through

With age, however, Sangakkara’s wittiness dwindled. Whether wittiness gave way for wisdom or whether experience supplanted his innate sarcasm is a substratum for deliberation. Be that as it may, truth be told, his wittiness is still extant, only that it has become pedantic with a plethora of prudence – as the erstwhile secretary of Sri Lanka cricket would have known.

If mentally disintegrating the opponents was an art he mastered in, physically disintegrating himself to improve his skills both as a keeper and a batsman was a modus operandi he cherished embracing. “There are somethings that you don’t like doing. But there are somethings you have to do”.

“It doesn’t matter whether you like something or not. If you have taken the responsibility of doing it, you have to do it. That’s the commitment you must have. There are certain things that you like doing and they are easy. But the real test of character is to try and do the hard things as well, things that you don’t like”, he said in a TV interview.

He is always the coach’s last preference to throw balls at during drills for the whole of Sri Lanka knows that the veteran is not going get tired of facing balls. At times you suspect whether he is a masochist, given the amount of onerous excruciation he puts himself under during practice. Or sometimes you wonder whether he is a strict adherent of Jainism so as to see torturing himself as a way to moksha.

The man who never believed in luck

When talented batsman who had ability gifted by birth were dominating cricket and filling the almanacs, Sanga rose like a sculpture that carved itself out of a rock. He was more of a cricketer made than a cricketer born. Have you ever seen him looking up at the sky after scoring a century? No. That’s because, he does not believe in luck. Nor does he need divine interventions to help him accomplish his goals. Passionate hard work is all what he believes in.

The only thing that can overshadow his predisposition for hard work is his penchant to focus on the ultimate goal. In the Test against Bangladesh when he scored 319, his highest score in Test cricket, soon after hitting the ball over midwicket to get to the magical 300, Sanga took off his helmet, acknowledged the crowd and was marking the guard again even before the bowler was ready to bowl his next delivery.

There were no NBA styled high jumps, or the rugby styled fist pumps in the air. A scrupulous compilation of 300 runs was capped off in the most unassuming way.

Sanga never believed in looking up at the sky

He is so self-effacing that at times he forgets to cherish his own milestones. Braving the Kiwi pace attack in Wellington in 2006, Sanga was rendering a pugnacious test innings to help Sri Lanka garner as many runs as possible with its tail exposed. “And I remember Daniel Vettori had come on by this time, I swept him and the ball went for a four. I went at the other end and everyone started clapping. I asked the non-striker what was going on and he said that was my hundred.”

An example of how we should lead our lives

His batting is so systematic that you can design an algorithm for an android humanoid batsman just by watching him bat. To be a tad philosophical, Sanga’s batting is an epitome of self-management. Whether it’s the worst ball he has ever faced or the best ball he will ever receive, his approach doesn’t change – an example of how we should lead our life. Just since we manage to earn something easily does not mean you can sit back and relax. Still you have to do what you have got to do.

After notching up 3 consecutive centuries against Bangladesh, England and Australia respectively in the recently concluded world cup, Sanga was up against the Scottish attack. After being in such a good form, one would have expected him to flash his blade at everything bar respect.

But what happened was otherwise. He started his innings in his usual nonchalant manner – trying to read the pitch and the bowlers.

“No matter who I am playing, my approach is the same. I don't take Bangladesh lightly and I don't give extra emphasis to Australia. I respect whoever is bowling to me.", he said in an interview in 2004.

What stokes his proclivity for such an approach is his passion for the sport – the passion that was given life after watching Asanka Gurusinghe and Arjuna Ranatunga massacre Kenya in Kandy, in 1996. However many runs he scores, however many centuries he scores, his gluttony will never fade away.

That passion is the fuel for his consistency.

“Consistency is not about being the same tomorrow as you are today, because tomorrow the benchmark will go higher. Being consistent actually means improving constantly”, opined Sanga, perhaps the most consistent batter of the modern times. His will to evolve and fetish to improve are the reasons why no bowler has ever managed to completely dominate him.

When Sanga leaves the field

Albeit, he is a prized prince of Sri Lanka, it is a mystery as to how he manages to keep such a low profile. When cricket gives him a holiday, Sanga can be spotted shopping in the supermarkets and shopping malls just like any other ordinary citizens. In the face of being the chief architect of many Sri Lankan victories, he still attempts in vain to implicate another player as the sole reason for a win.

Perhaps the Chinese proverb, “The taller the bamboo grows the lower it bends” is better suited to Sangakkara than anyone else. Being an international star does not matter to him, a trait which he has inherited from his family. “There’s never a brouhaha about the fact that I play cricket (in my family)”. Like ripened paddy he is humbleness is saccharine.

Unlike many sports stars his life is very simple. For someone who is adored throughout the nation, there are not many banners, placards or advertisements that signifies his territorial dominance. The only inference that can be made is that despite being a public figure he prefers a live of normalcy.

"I have an idea as to how I want to live my life. I have received many offers for endorsements in the last four years but have refused all of them so far apart from the ones I need for my bat and equipment. I simply did not see myself in the particular role that I had been asked to do. I believe the endorsements were simply not me.”

His simplicity and humility, however, are not parlayed into his public speaking skills. He has a rasping tongue and club with that his lilt, his oration can question authority and topple governments – something the last regime of Sri Lanka unsuccessfully tried exploiting. He has been Sri Lanka cricket’s unofficial spokesman long since his debut.

“Sangakkara speaks English better than the English”, said the Guardian in 2001. 10 years later, the stalwart would stand in front of the erudite members of Lord’s and discourse a speech drunk with endearment, frustration, hope, pain and affection.

“Only those with empires to protect will resent his words. Only those blighted with the curse of nationalism will deny him his voice. He spoke as a patriot, a higher calling altogether”, uttered late Peter Roebuck. His oration took the government by storm and Sri Lanka cricket would debar him from speaking publicly. Michael Roberts, a celebrated Sri Lankan scholar, would go on to draw comparisons betwenn Sangakkara and King Ashoka.

But the influence of his words were far reaching. It had already impaled the hearts of the Sri Lankan youths that their hearts were drenched in patriotism. His words became the most quoted monologue in Sri Lanka. Such was the impact of this man replete with wisdom that Ministry of Education of Sri Lanka decided to include an excerpt from his speech in the compendium for English Literature for GCE O/L students.

An excerpt from Sangakkara’s speech in the English Literature book for GCE O/L students.

Sanga the leader

As a captain, you could never doubt him. He was a tactician extraordinaire. He had been vociferous about Tharindu Kaushal’s inclusion in the Test team, right until he picked up a five wicket haul just in his second Test. He was the first to call Chandika Hathurusinghe as the best coach way back in 2010. Now, the coach has helped Bangladesh come of age in world cricket.

He is an avid learner who does not mind emulating youngsters. “I think a great example in modern day cricket was Virat Kohli in England. He didn’t have a great series but every time he walked in to bat he looked confident and looked the part. For whatever time he spent at the crease, he showed intent and exuberance, and that was great to watch”, he said in an interview with BCCI.

His activities to enlighten the youth and his impermeability to extortion and corruption have irked the government sponsored reprobates in the past. A government media accused him of match fixing in 2011 after the world cup final defeat.

In 2013, when Sanga requested the selectors to allow him to play a warm-up fixture to return to cricket after an injury layoff, the selectors waited until he reached the stadium in Matara before naming a starting XI not featuring his name. Countless matches has he played, without a guaranteed payment, thanks to the political influence that left the board bankrupt.

The ex-secretary of Sri Lanka cricket tried executing his personal vendetta on Sangakkara. Sanga was publicly abused and called a mercenary. But like a parent who forbears an abusive spouse for the betterment of the children, Sangakkara tolerated the bouts of allegations that was barbed at him for his fans.

“Fans of different races, castes, ethnicities and religions who together celebrate their diversity by uniting for a common national cause. They are my foundation, they are my family. I will play my cricket for them. Their spirit is the true spirit of cricket”, Sanga stated firmly in his much-vaunted Cowdrey lecture.

The one true Sri Lankan hero

In an island that saw endless violence in the form of pogroms, riots and wars, the youth of Sri Lanka needed a hero to unite fervently under. Who could have we looked upon as our hero? The various fallen ‘martyrs’ of the unsuccessful insurgencies? The overfed politicians? Or the self-professed guardians of the nation?

In the country that was marred by Sinhala nationalism and transnational Tamil nationalism, Sanga stood as an ecumenical nationalist. “With me are all my people. I am Tamil, Sinhalese, Muslim and Burgher. I am a Buddhist, a Hindu, a follower of Islam and Christianity. I am today, and always, proudly Sri Lankan.”

He was a key cog in helping the kids of the war torn return to normalcy after having journeyed through the tsunami-wrecked cost to provide relief to the victims. He is an icon adored by people of all walks of life.

ICC probably recognized his cricketing intelligence that it appointed him as a representative of the current players. His authentic personality and genuine conduct needs no clarifications.

Walking away with head held high

In 2004 Sanga said, "I would like to be in a position, at some point, to walk away from the game at a time of my choosing – when I realise that the contributions I can make to the team have reached their peak. I don't want a selector deciding when my time is up. Cricketers come into the game on their terms, and they should also leave on their own terms."

11 years later he will back his own statement, saying "I've been told if I play another year or two years, I could score another 1000 runs. I might be the second highest run scorer, or I might be able to break the Don's double-century record. But if you really think about it, if that's the only reason you want to prolong your career, then it is really time to say, 'Thank you very much.”

He was an ideal team man who valued his contribution for his team more than his individual milestones. "I've always prided myself on performing well for the side as an individual, but at the end of the day I want to be able to look my teammates in the eye and say I went out there because I really wanted to do well for the side, and it was nothing to do with individual records.”

Kumar Sangakkara was a chevalier who was a fortress for Sri Lanka in the batting line-up. He could batten down the hatches to hold out enemy incursion and at the same he was somebody who could shapeshift himself into a para-commando to launch a malevolent attack on the oppositions. He has been a specialist batsman, wicket keeper, captain, mentor and more importantly a father figure in the team.

The youngster who walked out to open the innings would stutter, struggle, confront and then unleash rampage on the South African side. As the wickets tumbled at the other end, he held one end up being the lone warrior for his side – many of such would be repeated in the future as well.

On 98, however, a deplorable decision from the umpire sent him back to the pavilion, also bringing the Sri Lankan innings to close. His will to fight and aversion to giving up would characterize his meteoric rise in world cricket.

He preached the world that a man sans talent but with will filled with passion can gradually push all his limits, transcend all constraints and be the man he wanted to be. Very recently, a photo of Sanga giving an animated sermon to the Minister of Sports made rounds in twitter.

From being a sharp-witted young renegade, Sanga now, with silver hair shimmering from his sides, oozes the nonchalance and sagaciousness of a seasoned statesman. His political entry is a far-cry for the time being, but if he does his classiness and astuteness will only bedeck the democratic estates of Sri Lanka.