Salute to Kumar Sangakkara, but don’t force him to play ODIs
Kumar Sangakkara was the lone fighter in Wednesday’s quarter-final clash against South Africa. (Source: AP)
The innings of Kumar Sangakkara at the Sydney Cricket Ground on Wednesday, pretty much defined his career.
As always like a lone ranger he battled and did not receive much support from anyone else in the line-up. The Sri Lankan line-up sadly was not able to shake off the over-reliance on Sangakkara.The left-handed stalwart fought for close to 151 minutes as the rest of the line-up collapsed around him. People will criticise him for slowing down, but looking at the poor shot selection of his teammates, Sangakkara had to play carefully. (Full Coverage| Venues | Fixtures)
The first target was obviously to try to bat out the full 50 overs. Sangakkara was in the end left to do a repair job that not even a superhero could have managed. The fact that he ended as the highest run-getter of the tournament is a huge feather in the cap of Sangakkara. He has ended his ODI career as the second highest run-getter in history behind Sachin Tendulkar.
There will no doubt be calls for Sangakkara to reconsider his ODI retirement. This was after all also the end of Mahela Jayawardene’s glorious career. Jayawardene will never be seen in Sri Lankan colours again, having already retired from Test and T20I formats. With Sangakkara the career will stretch to August when he plays his final Test series, against India.
READ: Anti-climax to Mahela Jayawardene’s fairytale
Sri Lanka must resist the temptation to force Sangakkara to reconsider his ODI retirement or indeed his Test retirement. For far too long, Sri Lanka have made the mistake of not developing the younger batsmen that are so necessary for their future. They just needed to have taken a leaf out of India who have successfully managed their ODI transition better than anyone else. Since 2007-08, India have successfully blooded in younger players in the ODI batting set-up. First the senior pros like Sourav Ganguly and Rahul Dravid had to make way. Then history repeated itself when the next set of senior players like Virender Sehwag, Gautam Gambhir and Yuvraj Singh made their way for younger talents.
READ: I feel that the time is now and it’s right: Kumar Sangakkara on ODI retirement
Sri Lanka have stuck to the same core of players for close to a decade. At some point they need to start planning their transition to the new era. They have done that very well by appointing Angelo Mathews as the Test and ODI captain. But now is the time for the future.
READ: The Five Talking Points from the 1st QF
Let Sangakkara retire in peace, salute him for his services and move to discover the next most unique talent from the Emerald Island.
Source:: Indian Express
