Record Breaking Four Consecutive ODI Centuries by Kumar Sangakkara, 2015

Kumar Sangakkara 105 v Bangladesh, 2015 from UppercuT on Vimeo.

Kumar Sangakkara 117 vs England, 2015 from UppercuT on Vimeo.

Kumar Sangakkara 104 vs Australia, 2015 from UppercuT on Vimeo.

Kumar Sangakkara 124 vs Scoland, 2015 from UppercuT on Vimeo.

Kumar Chokshanada Sangakkara: Sri Lanka's Finest

Kumar Chokshanada Sangakkara: Sri Lanka's Finest from UppercuT on Vimeo.

[Sanga vs Mahela] 2.0

Photo Credit: www.thearmchaircritic.cu.cc

Disclaimer: This post is not to devalue, desrespect or undermine Kumar Sangakkara and his achievements. It is just to support a point about Mahela Jayawardane I have stood by for some time. The fact remains Kumar Sangakkara is and will be for some time the most successful and accomplished batsman Sri Lanka has ever produced.

Although there is next to nothing that we can take from the on going India vs Sri Lanka ODIs, there is an important and somewhat rare feat for Sri Lanka among all the disappointment. How often do we get to see Kumar Sangakkara out-performed by another Sri Lankan batsman? Given Sanga's consistency over the last few years, that is extremely rare. And the reason is indirectly connected to a point I made about Mahela Jayawardane in numerous sites,blogs,comments etc.

In number of attempts to determine who is the best batsman produced by Sri Lanka(fans are probably exhausted by all the back-and-forth stuff) I have stood by the statement:

"...Mahela is the type of batsman who would wake up 9 a.m. and go on to score a century that afternoon without bothering with the nets. On the other hand Sanga is the type of batsman who would wake up at 6 a.m. hit hundread deliveries from the bowling machine in the nets and then go on to score a century that afternoon..."

While I was inspecting hammering Sri Lanka were receiving  in the current ODI series I realized what better proof than this series to support my above conclusion about Sanga vs Mahela!?

Incidentally Sri Lanka went through minimum preparation just days before the start of this tour and that DID NOT go down well with Sanga at all, and typically wasn't shy to share his displeasure about lack of time for proper preparation, and on que Sanga did not seem his usual assured self in the middle in any of the three ODIs he played in.

On the other hand Mahela has already ended up as the leading run scorer for Sri Lanka in this series and looks to be in his sublime best.

The reason? Sanga more or less relies on HARD WORK, while Mahela counts on the RAW TALENT and his instincts.

While not undermining Sanga, his achievement and his service to Sri Lanka, it's important to keep in mind that crisis does not present itself with prior notice! and when it does; it's always nice to have bloke who can get straight down to work, right after he get off the bed i.e. Mahela...

Food for thought: Imagine what could've been achieved if Mahela had the work ethic of Sanga!

Sri Lankans dominate the ICC Test XI of the Year

Three Sri Lankans have made it to the ICC Test Team of the Year -2014 after some stellar performances resulting in one of the most successful years in Sri Lankan Test cricket. As an added honour current Sri Lankan Test Captain has been chosen to lead the ICC Test XI, which features some of the heavy weights of the world cricket today:

David Warner (Aus)

Kane Williamson (NZ)

Kumar Sangakkara (SL)

AB de Villiers (SA)

Joe Root (Eng)

Angelo Mathews (SL) (captain)

Mitchell Johnson (Aus)

Stuart Broad (Eng)

Dale Steyn (SA)

Rangana Herath (SL)

Tim Southee (NZ)

Ross Taylor (NZ) (12^th man)

Another interesting fact is there is not a single player from the Indian team which is considered a superpower in cricket these days. This is reflection of how poor the Indians have fared in Test cricket especially overseas, on the other hand how well the Sri Lankans have done in their Test assignments away from home. Angelo Mathews and Kumar Sangakkara are also nominated for the ICC awards; Test Cricketer of the Year and Sir Garfield Sobers Award for the Cricketer of the Year.

ATTENTION: Atapattu, Jayawardane, Sangakkara

After 15 years Sri Lanka Cricket has rolled the dice and betting on a local as the Head coach of the national cricket team. Last time the team had a local coach, does not bring greatest memories. Although, then coach; Roy Dias had little to do with the ugly team politics which made sure of the Sri Lanka's worst World Cup campaign after peaking in 1996, it did no favors to the idea of handing over the reins to local coaches. The inception of school of thoughts: "local coaches create factions within the team" took place successfully.(again this was not true since factions were created due to Ranatunga not getting the team he asked for & not because of Roy Dias).

This time around, when Marvan Atapattu is appointed as the full time head coach, there is even something more to support the afore mentioned school of thoughts: Since Atapattu has played in the team with Kumar Sangakkara and Mahela Jayawardene;there will be even more fuel for fire of team politics... fair enough. There is always an element of doubt until it is done and dusted, but it shouldn't be forgotten that according to the same doubters Sangakkara and Jayawardane should NOT be playing today as Sanath Jayasuriya became the Chairman of Selectors(for well known reasons). The reality is they still are playing and probably playing best cricket in their careers. So much for the element of doubt then..

Challenges

As parties of a "Sri Lankan" cricket team, Atapattu,Jayawardane and Sangkkara WILL NOT face the greatest challenges on  the field from their counterparts from other teams.NO. All three of them will face the greatest challenges from within Sri Lanka. More specifically from the 'bankcrupt' journalists + the 'gossip' sites who will sell their mothers for cheap publicity for their so called media outlets.
Most recent and hilarious examples are the last years' news reports(with no source) about the Sri Lanka's bowling coach; Chaminda Vaas. According to these so called 'journalists' there was a serious rift between Vaas and spearhead Lasith Malinga and all hell was ready to break loose(which included headlines; Malinga ready to retire from interantional cricket ;Vaas considering resignation)
After those so called 'news reports'(with NO source) followed probably the most successfull year of Sri Lankan cricket history.So God Bless those 'sourceless' reports and the 'journos'.

Have no doubts they WILL BE at it again,probably with a catchy headline like;  'Round 2:Atapattu vs Mahela/Sanga' and admittedly some fans will buy it, just like they bought: Sanath vs Sanga, Vaas vs Malinga earlier.
However it(fans buying that rubbish) will be not as significant as Atapattu,Jayawardene and Sangakkara buying into those news reports/gossip etc, but fortunately judging from the signs thus far, there is more than reason to believe that all three of them know better and are highly professional about their jobs and duties. Therefore there is very little doubt that these three ICONs of Sri Lankan cricket will excel in each others company..

Godspeed Gentlemen... #2015

On a side note: there will always be haters; who will be lining up right about now to declare it was Atapattu's fault if (God forbid)Sri Lanka have an ordinary World Cup campaign next year and if Sri Lanka  have even a slightly successful campaign they will declare it was just 'seniors pulling their weight'(am not saying they are not,they are doing great actually) and nothing to do with Atapattu as they've been saying in the last two months.