Island To Island: The Legend Continues - An Interview With Kumar Sangakkara

When one of the world’s greatest cricketers decided to leave the national stage, it was a devastating blow, especially to the Sri Lankan public, but Kumar Sangakkara is nowhere near ending his legendary career.

“You have to face the inevitable ending of a career, it doesn’t go on forever”, he said as if it was a concrete decision, but fans can hold onto the hope of seeing the legend on the pitch again.

A multi-record holder and the people’s cricketer, Sangakkara will never not lose his fame. Even after leaving the Sri Lankan national team, Kumar continues to jet from place to place, playing for the love of the game, with his memorable edge unchanged.

Soon before long, he’ll be picking everything up and moving half way across the world with his family in tow, to Surrey, England to continue his county cricket career.

Sangakkara, 39, never thought this is what his life would become. Growing up in one of Sri Lanka’s larger cities, Kandy, he attended Trinity College, an elite private school where he found his love of sports.

“My father was very keen that all of us played sport, but also try to play them well. So from a young age, both at home and at school, we were all encouraged to take up sports.”

Along with his older brother, Vemindra, and two sisters, Thushari and Saranga, Sangakkara took up badminton, tennis, swimming and of course cricket as a child. He excelled in all sports, but even in academics with his original plan to follow in his father’s footsteps and become a lawyer. However fate dealt him with different cards.

“At that time I wasn’t inspired to play international cricket, I was just enjoying playing cricket for my school and I didn’t think I was good enough at that stage”, he said surprisingly as he pondered back into his past.

As he looks back, Kumar makes it seem like it was a whole other lifetime away. When a career is as long as his, having played over 400 cricket matches, it’s only fair to say that life before then was completely different.

After working his way up the cricket ranks at school, Kumar was selected to played for the Sri Lankan national team with a clear difference, knowing he had to work hard to prove his worth. “Mentally you kind of question yourself in the first series, ‘are you good enough?’ and you need to get runs under your belt and have some good performances to feel at home in that arena.”

When asked about his numerous records he responds humbly, making light of the fact that there’s more to cricket than just records. “If you’re scoring runs and getting 100s or building up big partnerships or wicket-keeping and getting wickets, catches or stumping, all of that has to serve a purpose, not just for yourself but also for the team.”

Being the real team player that he is, both on and off the pitch, Sangakkara knows to put his team first before himself. Knowing this, he made sure his records were made for the benefit of the team.

One of his biggest records to date is for the highest partnership in a test match, in July 2006, against South Africa. With his partner, Mahela Jayawardene, the two played a partnership that would go on for days, ending with a 642 run completion. “Even then we knew it was a world record but until you really finish the game, sit down and let it sink in that you understand what it meant.”

As he tells his stories, Kumar speaks in a calming tone, with bursts of excitement surfacing at times, but ultimately strength in what he says. When he talks about his techniques, he is firm that concentration is the key to being successful in the game.

“It’s about making sure that you know understand what concentration is about, concentrating on every delivery that you are out there for, it’s only the ten seconds that the bowler runs in and bowls the delivery at you, then you switch off until you are just about to face the next ball and then you start concentrating again.”

Sangakkara plans to take this concentration as he continues his country cricket career in Surrey this summer. Making a semi-permanent move to England, he seems very excited to continue his cricketing journey, more so because his family can be more involved. “You strive for balance but it’s never easy. I think the family front suffers a bit with me being away… So we always try and adjust as best we can to ensure that we have time to spend with each other. But it’s not always easy and you have to make a lot of tough decisions.”

As he embarks on the next journey, his future will hit him in the blink of an eye, yet that does not scare him. “I’m not looking too far ahead or not trying to think too big, I’m just staying in the moment and really enjoying the game.”