Typically, we assume that the politicians, after they win
elections, lose grip over the pulse of the people. But, in the case of Sri
Lanka, the Sri Lankan premier seems to have got it completely right, offering
the post of the Sri Lankan envoy to the UK to Kumar Sangakkara. It will be a
seamless movement for him, moving from being a great ambassador of a sport to a
great ambassador of a nation.
Cricket has seen quite a few big exits in the recent past–
Ponting, Clarke, McGrath, Warne, Kallis etc. Their names bring to mind
brilliant match winning performances, intense rivalry, and amazing statistics.
Were they the true ambassadors of the game? Tough to answer.
Sanga was a giant in more ways than one. In many ways, he
was the perfect cricketer. Intense on the field, mature off the field but a
gentlemen across.
In the last few years, the retirement of Kumble, Dravid,
Laxman, Tendulkar, Jayawardane and now Sanga has robbed the game of elegance
and the quintessence of cricket, the gentlemanliness.
As Sanga fades away from the real cricket field into the
virtual cricket fields that lie only in people’s memories or on the TV, Tablet
and Phone screens, I feel happy that I had a brief interaction with the legend.
This was in November 2014 and it was on a flight from Ahmedabad
to Hyderabad. The flight was carrying, wonder of wonders, the Indian and the
Sri Lankan Cricket teams!
To a die hard cricket fan like me this was an experiential
bounty of unimaginable magnitude. As I
took my seat, imagine my luck, the row in front of me was occupied by none
other than the Sri Lankan legends – Mahela Jayawardane and Kumar Sangakkara.
On any other day, I would have dozed off, putting a DND
sticker on my seat. Not today. Today was an opportunity to talk to cricketers
whom you have deified.
I started chatting up with the legends, shook hands with
them and told them I was a big fan of theirs. They smiled. The way I was
seated, I could only chat with Sanga as I was just behind Mahela.
I tried to tell him how great a player he was, reeling out
his stupendous achievements. He just smiled.
I told him he was a legend, to which he said, he was not,
there were quite a few greats ahead of him.
As the flight took off, the players started moving around
the plane.
Sanga started playing with Dhawan’s kid. The Deccan Chargers
bond seemed strong and familial.
Sanga and Amit Mishra spoke about the food in Parthiv Patel’s house
(Gujju food is sweet, Sanga was saying), the weather in Hyderabad and heat of
Ahmedabad. I shamelessly listened to every word Sanga spoke. Then, as things settled down and flight
started cruising, Sanga and Mahela started chatting in Sinhalese, a language I
did not unfortunately understand.
Here was a legend who wore his greatness very lightly on his
shoulders. There was no throwing around of his weight, no ordering around of
the Air Hostesses, no pompousness in his voice when being spoken about his
greatness.
In just one hour, from a fan of Sanga, I became a super fan.
As we were alighting from the aircraft, I requested him for
a selfie. He said, yes, please make it quick.
Getting down the ramp of the aircraft, I tried a selfie. Sadly, the best of phones do not have a flash linked to the front camera, what
I was left with was a dark screen with two silhouettes.
While Sanga does leave a gaping hole in the world of
Cricket, he leaves a larger gap in my phone. Of a photograph with a legend that
could have been…
