On Monday, by the time Kumar Sangakkara walked down the stairs of the Galle International Cricket Stadium, his teammates were already well into their stretching routines. It was the former Sri Lankan skipper’s first training session with his boys in more than a month. Not to forget one of his final ones as a Lankan cricketer. But there was no sign of it. It was business as usual. Sangakkara was immediately tended to by the physio as he stretched his battle-hardened limbs. Then after sharing a joke with Rangana Herath, he also indulged in a game of keepie uppie, representing the veterans. He wasn’t really good at it, missing a couple of kicks. But his interest didn’t wane. WATCH: India’s Fledgling Batting Vs SL’s Nascent Bowling And there was no mournful gloom in the air, the kind you expect from an impending farewell as he addressed the media for one final time a day later at the Galle International Cricket Stadium. He instead looked like a man who had well and truly accepted his future. Every time he was asked a question, Sangakkara would acknowledge the journalist with a smile, let it sink in and then respond with the kind of eloquence you come to expect from him. Asked whether the thought of retirement had sunk in yet, he said, “When you are sitting in England and watch your team play the ODI and T20 series (against Pakistan), you definitely feel like a former cricketer. You feel you’re involved but at the same time you are not there. It can be frustrating at times but it’s something that I’ve got to get used to.” Then there were the usual queries about his highs and lows, and Sangakkara recounted the many achievements the team had achieved during his career, especially after the high-profile retirements of the likes of Sanath Jayasuriya, Chaminda Vaas and Marvan Atapattu. “All the wins we have had, especially away from home, beating Australia for the first time in a one-day series in 2010, T20 World Cup when we won it, all of these have been really standout moments for me. There are regrets too but not regrets that I will be thinking about for years and years and being bitter about,” said Sangakkara, who has four more potential outings to the crease wearing the Sri Lankan badge. A question of legacy About the legacy he would like to leave behind, the elegant left-hander who has scored around 28,000 international runs accepted the fact that he would be remembered differently in different circles. “I think everyone remembers you differently. When you play, you see yourself in one way, when you retire, you see yourself as slightly better than what you actually were. That’s the way cricketers are,” he said. But Sangakkara burst out laughing when asked whether he subscribed to the reputation of being a batsman who was apart from being elegant, also conscious of never playing an ugly shot. “Thilan Samaraweera always told me that I had the ugliest forward defensive shot he had ever seen in his life. Whenever I play the cover drive, with the back knee bent and head back, I just say to myself how can that be stylish. Most of the things I do doesn’t seem elegant,” he said. Though Sangakkara was known to never take a backward step in a confrontation on the field, he did reveal to have played alongside a bunch of players who never believed in being too aggressive. If anything they could be guilty of being too nice. He recalled,”At times, we used to get upset with Murali because he always kept smiling at the opposition. I remember one instance when Andrew Flintoff, who was going through a bad patch with the bat, came to Sri Lanka. Murali was getting him out for fun. Freddie came to Galle and Murali told him ‘Freddie, first ball off-break, push me down and get a single.’” “Murali bowled an off-break and Freddie pushed and ran for single. Four overs later, Murali got him bowled.”
