When Sri Lanka lost the 2011 World Cup final to India in Mumbai, it affected Kumar Sangakkara severely. It was the second major final that Sri Lanka had lost under his captaincy. During the tour of England that followed, it was observed that Sangakkara was forlorn and unwilling to accept leadership again. A year later he suffered another setback when Sri Lanka lost the ICC World Twenty20 final to West Indies at home.
Fans started wondering whether the greatest batsman produced by the country would retire having not won anything significant. Luck finally was on Sangakkara's side as he came up with a match winning half-century in the final of the 2014 World T20 against India a fortnight ago.
In this candid and exclusive interview with gocricket.com, Sangakkara speaks on what it means to win the World T20, Ravindra Jadeja playing into his hands, the reception back home, his chat with Virat Kohli moments after the winning runs were scored and lots more.
Excerpts...
People often point out that despite all the batting milestones, you had never won a World Cup, a World T20 or a Test series away from home other than against Bangladesh or Zimbabwe. What does the win two weeks ago mean to you?
It meant so much to all of us. I remember before the final I was speaking to Mahela [Jayawardene] and saying that we have come for a final for the fifth time. I said we should hang ourselves if we don't win this. We played much better than the opposition in the final. Our bowling was brilliant and our batting was outstanding. If you take India, only Virat Kholi played well. But for us everyone contributed. That was the remarkable thing.
If you take the whole tournament not that we had an easy tournament. Usually when we come to a final we had been the dominant team in the tournament. But in this tournament we were under pressure from the start. We had to fight really hard.
We thought we had the edge against England, but we lost. We had an easy game against Netherlands, but New Zealand was tough again and it was a virtual quarter-final. Other than for Angelo Mathews who performed consistently throughout the tournament along with Lasith Malinga and Nuwan Kulasekara, whose contributions we often forget, we had several standout performances throughout. The burden was shared among everyone. In the finals we believed we can beat India. To be able to do that and get over the line was strange you know. It's a feeling we have never had before. You feel tired and when you sit down and think and then you don't know how to feel. It was lovely. This particular team everyone managed to stay focused and everyone delivered.
Prior to the final, in the whole tournament you had reached double-figures just once. Tell us about reserving your best to the last.
The funny thing was it was a mental attitude change I think. Going into to bat at No 4 with two wickets down, I was often thinking to be cautious at the start. In T20s you need to be dominant. You can't be too cautious. In the final it was a case of thinking you are going to make runs. To be honest, the day before the final I was thinking how Ravindra Jadeja was going to bowl to me round the wicket. But in the final he bowled to me over the wicket. The first ball he bowled to me I swept him for four and then a couple of deliveries later I swept him again for a six. That was the over that gave me lot of confidence. A couple of boundaries and automatically I was on my way. That over Jadeja bowled to me changed the momentum.
But in the previous over, you skied one that fell short of the long-off fielder.
Suresh Raina is a skiddy customer. I knew I could go after him because he didn't have a short midwicket for me. It fell just short. That's T20 cricket. You get rewarded in T20 cricket by taking risks.
Not just for you and Mahela but for others like Dilshan and Malinga too this was their fifth big final. Did you guys do anything different from the previous finals?
I don't think we did anything different. We kept our focus away trying to think 'oh God, it's India'. We spoke about it and that took the pressure off us. We were thinking what a great achievement to get here. Paul Farbrace, our coach, said in the team meeting that we are not here to win the semi-final but we are here to win the final. Everyone managed to deal with it very well. The day before the final they played a video clip of Mahela and I batting together. That was touching. But the fact is that this tournament is not about me or Mahela. It's about 15 players and other support staff. Having one focus in mind and keeping things simple, working harder and plodding away worked. This tournament was about team work, contributions from everyone and hard work.
The reception back home up to Temple Trees (the President's house) was something never seen before...
It was unbelievable. I had been part of Asia Cup and I was telling Angelo during the reception back home imagine if we win a World Cup. I never expected that. Form the plane to airport lounge and for the next 40 kilometers it was an amazing celebration. Sri Lankans of all races and all religions came together. It goes to show that sometimes we can lose the reality as cricketers. This is not something we did alone.
There are lots of others who are behind us, who cheers us, who help us and the media. The expectations are high and the people of the country have the right to have those high expectations. Everyone loves this game. It was an amazing feeling returning home. I haven;t seen anything like that and I hope I will see it again in 2015.
The World Cup is less than 12 months away. Sri Lanka were the losing finalists on the last two occasions. Can you be third time lucky?
It will be extremely challenging for us. At the same time we are comfortable with that challenge. We have to come down quickly and focus on improving. We have a lot of challenges ahead and we have got to be really pushing ourselves. We need to challenge big sides.
The fact that you were in Bangladesh for two months prior to the World T20 helped the team. Similarly ahead of the 2015 World Cup you will be in New Zealand for over four weeks engaged in a bilateral series. How crucial is that going to be?
In Bangladesh the wickets were slightly different for the World T20 from what we played during the bilateral series and Asia Cup. The wickets were much more slower when we stayed in Bangladesh earlier on. There was lot of carry during the World T20. In New Zealand I don't think the conditions will change drastically. Maybe New Zealand will have a bit more seam and swing and it will help us definitely.
There was some chat between you and Virat Kohli soon after the winning runs were scored. Can you tell us what was said out there?
Well, a lot of people have speculated about that. I thought it was an outstanding gesture on his part to congratulate me soon after I got the half-century. We don't see that kind of things from Virat too often. He is always fired up. In return I told him that it was a pleasure watching him bat. I also told him that if he keeps batting like that he can be pretty special. That's about it.
There was a big hue and cry when you told the Sunday Island newspaper that you will stop playing T20I cricket after the World T20. Were you surprised by the reaction of the board and selectors?
It upset me. Why such a commotion was about was hard to understand. I didn't release an official press release. I was asked a question and I replied. My responsibility was to talk to one man I should which was Sanath Jayasuriya. Then we had a chat about it and both of understood what happened and that's pretty important. People made a lot about it. Unfortunately it happened at the start of such an important tournament. We had to sort that out quickly and move on.
You are linked with English county Durham early this season. How many games you intend to play for them?
I have asked permission from the chairman of selectors to play two games. That's subject to his approval and the NOC from the board and what he thinks the best for Ireland and England tours. I am waiting to hear from him. The wickets in England are pretty challenging. It'll be good if I can spend enough time ahead of Tests in England. I think the summer has been pretty good in England. That's interesting to see. That will be good for us and hopefully we will have a good tour.
Source : http://www.islandcricket.lk/
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