Dubai: Kumar Sangakkara displayed his hunger for runs for Gemini Arabians despite having retired from international cricket. Even after cracking a whirlwind 86 off 43 balls with seven sixes and six boundaries, he expressed his disappointment at getting out without getting a century.
When Gulf News asked whether the desire for runs and to score a century have still not subsided despite his retirement, Sangakkara said: “It’s disappointing when you get out and it doesn’t matter how many runs you have scored. Probably the ball that got me out, I could have hit it through a bit more and maybe got another boundary or a six. It’s the same for every batsman, I think they just want to keep batting. That is where the fun in cricket is when you are batting in for long periods of time.”
Sangakkara is so serious about his game that he even admitted that he still gets nervous before the start of any innings despite it not being an international match. “The nervous(ness) come in, you want to get off strike and you want to start getting good rhythm and struggle for about 20 balls and then everything falls into place. It is a case of assessing the wicket and assessing the attack and then try and make a plan.”
Though Sangakkara walked away with the first man of the match award of this tournament, he sportingly said he could only play such a fine knock due to his teammates. “It’s nice to go out there and score some runs and I thought the way the openers set the tone with Virender Sehwag, hitting the first ball for six, was outstanding. That is what really got us going. It took some time for me to settle in and then start scoring. [Brad] Hodge was also outstanding in the middle,” he said.
Sangakkara feels every player, including those from opponents Libra Legends, are playing seriously. “I don’t think any of the boys who played out there is going to play in the tournament and want to look bad. They all want to perform at their best. It doesn’t matter whether some of us have retired or not. It is just a case of ensuring that you try and do the best possible job out there and then display the skills. It is no different for me,” he added.
Sangakkara wants to still improve and make up for his poor performance for Hobart Hurricanes in the Big Bash League next season. “In the BBL I was probably trying to do too much too soon which is probably why the performance was such for me. There are good lessons to be learned so when I go back at the end of this year to the Hurricanes again I will really try and play from the lessons I have learned.”
Speaking about keeping wickets to Muttiah Muralitharan after a long time, Sangakkara who even pulled off a brilliant stumping, said: “In my mind it felt like the old days but the body just kind of protested a bit in between, but you saw the skill displayed by Murali again. He is a kind of bowler who can just stay off cricket for a while and then come back and bowl with his eyes closed. I displayed a lot of skills and so did Saqlain (Mushtaq). Kyle Mills was very impressive and Rana Naveed in the end was outstanding so we have got a balanced team.”
