For me it came naturally that the morning after Team India became world champions, my thoughts turned to the Sri Lankans, wondering how they took the narrow shave in Mumbai last night - the proverbial slip between the cup and the lip. I was curious because as Ravi Shastri took pains to point out more than once at the closing ceremony, Sri Lankan cricketers put up a terrific game. Having lived in Colombo for almost 4 years and knowing only too well the Sri Lankan people’s tenacity and resilience, frankly, I wasn’t sure till the very end - say, the final 30 minutes or so - as to who would turn out to be the winners. Everything seemed in favour of the Indians statistically - except that they were playing the lions from Sri Lanka. Seeing the fire in his eyes, in fact, I got the sense that Sangakkara wasn’t prepared to give up hope until the very last 4 or 5 minutes.
So, I felt absolutely overwhelmed when Shastri ‘interviewed’ Sangakkara and the young man was so gracious and dignified and composed within minutes of losing a World Cup that might as well have been his. I don’t think another defeated captain standing right in the middle of the debris of defeat with flashbulbs glaring at him (and 40000 pairs of eyes trained on him) would have paid the Indians the ultimate compliment as Sangakkara did when he said the Indians today are so bloody good in cricket that if an opponent sets anything less than 350 runs to chase, Dhoni and his men would simply walk away with victory.
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He is a big Cheater, He lost the toss, then lied and finally manage to win the toss.
but cricket god dint favour him
The SriLankan cricket team played well and rightly came to the finals.They were beaten by the better Indian team under Dhoni on that particular day.Sangakara was gracious in defeat and said that India played well and deserved to win.The Lankan cricket has produced some of the best cricketers in the world over the last 20-25 years and have become a force to be reckoned with in the cricketing world. Sangakara,Mahela ,Murli , Dilshan and Malinga left behind a memorable image in the world cup.
They are a great team and never give up easily. If at all, India had lost in the finals, the pain of losing would have been less losing to Sri Lanka than to Pakistan,SA or Australia. If India had not been in the finals and SriLanka was, Indians would have prayed for SL to win.
In comparission Shahid Afridi has foul mouthed India
Strongly disagree.
Sangakkara got what is called poetic justice. he knew he had called tails and lost the toss but paki in him got the better of him and he called for re toss. everyone knows what happened later in the match.
he was not gracious but just redeeming himself for what he had done at the beginning of the match. it was evident right through lanka fielding.everytime they showed sanga, one could see in his eyes he knew he had done wrong and was going to pay for it.and he did.big time.
justice served. karmic style
We are the Champs.still.
yeah, we should salute Sangakkara, the way he cheated on the toss and blew the fuse of Dhoni…pls refer to the toss video to know what i am saying…that infruirated Dhoni a lot, and only a win would have put Sangakkara in his place…At the toss he says, any total they put should be sufficient, and ofcourse at the loss it had to be 350
Only FOUR wickets gone ….. and we had Suresh Raina also waiting.
So, what was Sangakkara’s hope ….. unless Yuvi, Dhoni and Raina had also perished ?
My disappointment was twofold :
1/.. Gambhir deserved a century and Man-of-the-Match.
2/.. Dilshan was very, very unfortunate to get out the way he did.
Indians are the new world cup winners all fine. The freebies being doled out to them from all parts of the country makes me wonder if our cricketers are above the Kargil martyrs? Did the govt. announce such awards for those real heroes? On the other hand, the Adarsh scam has hurt those families who lost their loved ones for the cause of the nation. Our govt. kicks them on their face for the real sacrifice made by them and worships the cricket team which has afterall, done well in one for of the sport. It was not a war won by them. Shame on the govt. and its a shame on ourselves for the misplaced priorities.
I fully agree with you dear M K Bhdrajumar…
Sanga has been great captain of Sri Lanka and was amazingly gracious,incredibly dignified and terrifically well composed as a strong losing captain .
let all Indians emulate him…Great fellow indeed!!!
Jai ho Sangakkara!!!!!!!!!
I disagree with your view that Sanga gave up in the last 4,5 mins only. If you have observed the body language, the eyes os Sanga almost from around the 30th over, they seems to have given it up. They were well aware that the gamble of Murali and Randiv didn’t work out. Perera and Kulasekhara, as expected, gave runs. Malinga can’t do much all alone when the Indians were well settled with the strong response by Gauti, Virat abd the Captain Cool. Sanga
I too salute sagkara for his magnanimity in defeat. No one was looser .Cricket was the wineer
Nonsense, you watched 4 years killing tamils.
Yes, it very true. The ease, how they chase 275 after losing Sehwag
Yes indeed. He was very competitive in the field and did not fail to appreciate the opponents despite their team loss the match narrowly… It was awsome show by both the teams.
Thanks Sangakarra and Team Sri Lanka.
Well said. I have seen two opposition captains being very dignified in defeat in this World Cup. Sangakkara is one. Shahid Afridi is another.
what transpired at the toss?
Well certainly Mr Bhadrakumar. But you know what, we have long list of players “not to forget salute”. Ganguly, Dravid, Srinath, Kumble also Shastri etc. And the list goes not.
I am just saying when you call for “not to forget” better not forget anyone and not just Sangakkara
we are salute to the lankan lion kumar sangakara for his great sportmanspirit really a great guy.
Salute to Sangakkra!! if india would’ve have lost would you have said the same thing? did you forget what happened at the Toss… he clearly cheated at the toss .. if he was man of his words he would’ve accepted the loss at the toss rather than going for second toss.I am sure he knew what he called….. he’s lucky that he got away because india won…had india lost surely there wouldve been lots of hue and cry over what happend at the toss!!!!
I saw what Sanga did at the toss; granted the match referee didn’t hear the call; but Sanga knew what he called and that the coin fell the other way, thereby losing him the toss. He should’ve been honest enough to admit he lost. I’m sorry but he just lost a great deal of my respect with this gesture. I guess it doesn’t matter anymore, because India defeated them but this incident left just as bad a taste in the mouth as did the incident where Dilshan deliberately bowled a wide to Sehwag, thus denying him a century!
what about the toss, which Srilanka cheated to win ??
Sangakara was gracious in defeat and showed impeccable sportsmanship. They went down fighting to the very end and made it a thoroughly good contest. Well played Sri Lanka.
The first lesson sanga needs is honesty.. He did lose the toss in the first instance
Yeah! the same gracious, dignified and composed young man lied during the toss to be able to bat first.
May be it was his guilty conscious which prompted him to be so generous with his compliments for the Indian team
he cheated at the toss,if you know,a bad example for sportsmanship…..that is why his side lost.
And he also said that the better team won and India deserved to win.
Gracious even in defeat!
sangakkara cheated at toss.
he thought batting first shall give them cup.
they deserve to lose.
this is revenge for our 1996 and 2007 loss.
This is same Sangakkara who misled everone during the Toss , though it was evident that he had lost it as it was his own call. He just took advantage of the situations