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Talk Asia

Sri Lanka's Cricket Sensation

Aired November 20, 2014 - 04:30   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.


(MUSIC PLAYING)

ANNA COREN, CNN HOST (voice-over): Sri Lanka, known for its pristine beaches, sprawling tea plantations, mighty elephants, majestic sunsets and

cricket: it's not just the country's most popular sport, it's a practiced passion.

When locals aren't on the field themselves, they're watching their revered national team. Among the sport's ranks is Kumar Sangakkara, former

captain, Test batsman and some say arguably one of the best Sri Lankan players of all time.

MARVAN ATAPATIU, HEAD COACH (voice-over): You know, he is probably the hardest worker on the team. Given his stats, his scoring 10,000 runs

each (INAUDIBLE) and that's a great achievement.

COREN (voice-over): Currently ranked number one Test batsman in the world by the ICC, Sangakkara's career is full of impressive statistics. He

has a batting average just shy of 60 from his 128 hits. He's notched up 10 double centuries, second only to the great Don Bradman. He led his team to

the World Cup final in 2011.

And just this year lifted the world 2020 trophy (INAUDIBLE).

This month on TALK ASIA, we'll be at the mecca of cricket in Sri Lanka to meet one of the gang's greats to find out why his love of the sport

trumps his career as a lawyer and discover how his country's history molded him as a player and a man.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

KUMAR SANGAKKARA, PREMIER CRICKETER: And I remember driving down the traffic in Colombo and sometime you stop at a red light and you're always

thinking what if a bomb goes off now?

(MUSIC PLAYING)

COREN: Kumar Sangakkara, welcome to TALK ASIA.

SANGAKKARA: Thank you very much.

COREN: You are considered one of Sri Lanka's greatest batsmen. You're a national icon. You are an incredible ambassador for your country

and for the game.

Do you feel pressure being a role model to so many people?

SANGAKKARA: It's a sport full of a lot of passion but in Sri Lanka just a little bit more than a sport. We are crazy about it but in times of

strife, cricket's been an amazing panacea for the country.

That said, being a role model, carrying myself well on the field and off the field, it's something not just myself but the entire team really

takes a lot of pride in.

COREN: You said that cricket is more than just a sport and I guess that really rings true, considering what your country has been through.

The 30 years of civil war and it was cricket that brought the country together.

SANGAKKARA: It was, definitely. Cricket's played a pivotal role in social integration and harmony and we've also represented an ideal Sri

Lanka, the team itself comprises of all ethnicities, all religions.

And the cricket team, it's been the same kind of utopian feel where you play together, you win or lose together and I think that's been kind of

a very attractive notion to the larger Sri Lankan society.

And to see it through the cricket team on the cricket field, carrying their hopes on their shoulders, I think that's really inspired the society

to embrace us. And also kind of aspire to a higher ideal.

COREN: Well, let's talk about your stats, because they are phenomenal. You are currently ranked number one Test batsman in the world

by the ICC, a position that you've dominated since 2005. You played 128 hits with a batting average of 58.76, which, let's face it, is incredibly

high.

You've made 10 double centuries, only second to the great Don Bradman. You're also a brilliant wicket keeper, contributing to the third highest

number of dismissals for a one-day international.

Anything else you want to achieve?

SANGAKKARA: Well, I think there's always something to chase. If there isn't, I think that's the day you've got to pack up and walk away.

In my case, I'm chasing a World Cup. I have six months here with an issue to play on a T-bone (ph) before I finish with the game. But stats

aside, I think I've been very, very lucky.

COREN: You're clearly a world-class athlete with incredible skill set. But how do you get that good?

SANGAKKARA: It's just a case of working a bit hard, you know, day in and day out --

(CROSSTALK)

COREN: Hard work? Is that what you put it down to?

SANGAKKARA: Well, I think so. And also I think it's talent and potential. Everyone's got talent. Everyone's got potential. You've got

to really find a method and a strategy that really works for you to kind of realize that potential, at least not fully maybe, but at least to some

extent that allows you to be successful.

COREN: Now I understand that you came into cricket by accident.

Is that true?

SANGAKKARA: Yes. I -- when it comes to actual cricket, I'm quite -- I was quite a late starter. I see kids now at 7 and 8, you know, starting

cricket. I started when I was about 12-13. But seriously switched when I was about 16-17. And I was -- like I said, I was lucky.

Sri Lanka's greatest achievement was the 1996 World Cup win. The same side went to England in 1999 and we were knocked out in the first round.

The entirety of Sri Lanka was disappointed. But that was a one piece of luck that I needed for my career.

It's a bit cruel to say, but it's actually true because the moment they got knocked out, there was a huge call for younger players, young

blood. We need to get rid of the old guard.

So suddenly I was carried along with that wave. And I suddenly replaced an iconic player, Romesh Kaluwitharana in the Sri Lankan side. So

in my life, the unfortunate incident of us getting knocked out was probably the most favorable for me.

COREN: Because you had been studying law at university, following in your father's footsteps as well as playing cricket. But it was Sri Lanka's

1996 cricket World Cup victory that I guess cemented your decision that you wanted to play for your country.

SANGAKKARA: Yes, that inspired me to kind of think that I could play. I wanted to play. But then I really looked at myself as a player and I

knew that I was far below the expected standard. I wasn't even spoken of in the same breath. I came into my own when I was about 21, just before I

broke into the national side.

So studying law, all of these are options I had to take because I myself thought I wasn't good enough. And until I got into the national

side, and I really struggled to really believe that I was able to stand up to what was expected of me and what I wanted to be able to do, what needed

to be done as an international cricketer.

COREN: You were hitting to the stadium in Lahore when four gunmen opened fire on the bus that you were traveling in.

SANGAKKARA: I was hit in the shoulder but there was no -- I don't think I was thinking anything other than the fact that, you know, just keep

your head down and hopefully you won't get hit. And even if you do, like I said, hopefully not in the head.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(MUSIC PLAYING)

SANGAKKARA (voice-over): I think sport's a lot about skill, especially in a team perspective. It's about working together, trying to

buy into a common strategy in a person ownership when it comes to that strategy and trying to achieve a particular goal.

And also the pride one feels to be selected out of 20 million people to be one of the team, to be able to just play a sport at a national level

and an international level represent the country in the World Cup.

It's an amazing thing that you don't have time, you don't have the need to think of anything that's divisive. It's actually a very strong

unifying force, not just for I think any sport in any part of the world there's a symbol of all.

We feel it a bit more because of immediate past history. But it's a beautiful game as well, is cricket. It's got a lot of high moral ideals

and bettering the sport. We have written spiritual cricket laws, where you play hard, you play fair but you try and display everything that's good in

human about yourself out there.

It's changing with the intensity of the competition, I think. But I think all these attributes make cricket and the role of cricket in Sri

Lanka very unique.

COREN: You grew up in Kandy, in a high achieving family, the youngest of four. Your father was an attorney. Your father is quite a tough

critic. I read an interview from last year, where he said that you can do better.

I mean, is it that mentality that drives you?

SANGAKKARA: Not exactly. I'm quite different in my way of thinking when it comes to that. He's very exacting. Better he doesn't mean in the

-- in terms of performance per se. It's also to do with the way I play the game in the sense of technique. He's a great believer in perfection. I'm

a believer in excellence. So we have this eternal argument on this.

But I think the way he looks at it is very simple. If you are in control of what you do, then it is your responsibility to ensure that you

explore the avenues that you have to become as close to perfect as possible.

COREN: Well, speaking of your father, he certainly showed amazing conviction and strength of character back in 1983, which was the start of

the civil war, which would plague Sri Lanka for the next 30 years.

He and your mother took in 35 Tamil friends, who would have otherwise been killed. I know you were just a child at the time, but how did that

shape your values and your beliefs?

SANGAKKARA: I don't know that otherwise they would have been killed or not, but at that time, security was a concern. And they were friends.

You know, there was no label attached to them. They were just (INAUDIBLE) closest friends.

I think it was an amazing thing to do. I look back upon it now and I think he may have displayed some of the characteristics (INAUDIBLE) in us,

just common decency, courtesy, respect and love.

COREN: When you look back at the civil war, and the violence and the suicide bombings, how does that make you feel, knowing what your country

endured for so long?

SANGAKKARA: Well, if you go through a whole gamut of different emotions, you know, you feel the sadness, the anger, the frustration, the

what-might-have-beens, you know, all these emotions and questions go through your mind.

But you have to be realistic as well. It was a dark time for our country. A lot of people paid the ultimate price with their lives for a

conflict and in that conflict, there's a whole generation of children who grew up with death, that constant threat of war and the suicide bombings,

not just in the south, but in the north and the east as well.

And all over Sri Lanka, there was a pervasive atmosphere of fear and foreboding and I remember driving down the traffic in Colombo and sometimes

you'd stop at a red light and you're always thinking, you know, what if a bomb goes off now?

It's strange, but you look at Sri Lanka now, look at my children now, and to not have that fear to send them to school, knowing that there is

very little threat. And I'm very, very thankful and grateful for that.

There's a lot to do in terms of work, to raise Sri Lanka up to where we want Sri Lanka to be. But I think there's an immensely strong

foundation now set and hopefully lessons learned.

COREN: (INAUDIBLE) match 2009, you and your team in Pakistan on a tour up to India and Australia decided not to go (INAUDIBLE) security

concerns.

You were heading to the stadium in Lahore when (INAUDIBLE) gunmen opened fire on the bus that you were traveling in.

Talk us through that terrifying experience.

SANGAKKARA: When we were in that situation, we had no time to really be scared. We were heading into -- I think the third day of the Test

match. I remember one of (INAUDIBLE) making the comment, oh, I hope something happens and we can just go home. And not even 20 seconds later,

we hear gunshots and we asked to just hit the desk.

(INAUDIBLE). And there's nothing that you can do really. You're not in control of anything else because you're not driving the bus. You're not

part of the security convoy. Unfortunately, there's six security personnel in front, in one of our covered jeeps, I think, (INAUDIBLE) about 10

seconds. A couple of the other outriders (ph) on bikes were also killed.

And we just had to stand still, being shot at.

COREN: What was going through your mind? Because you were hit. You were one of the hit players --

(CROSSTALK)

SANGAKKARA: Yes, I was hit in the shoulder. And another teammate, Thilan Samaraweera, next to me, was seriously injured when a bullet went

through his -- went through the back of his thigh and all the way up to his knee.

But there was no -- I don't think I was thinking anything other than the fact that, you know, just keep your head down and hopefully you won't

get hit. And even if you do, like I said, hopefully not in the head.

But it's also humbling that people really fell for us. I met an army personnel manning the roadblock after I came back. And he stopped my

vehicle and such a dangerous job. Because this (INAUDIBLE) stopped the correct vehicle carrying explosives, that's the end of his -- not just his

job but his life.

So he stopped me and then he recognized me and he said, oh, I'm so sorry; how are you?

And I said I'm fine.

He said, you know, we were so upset when you got shot and that the team was being attacked. And I said, you know, but you go through that

every day.

And he looked at me and said, yes, but you guys are heroes.

And I'm thinking -- I felt so touched and so moved that he's the real hero, you know, putting his life on the line every day in the service of

his country.

And then he looks at us and he feels so much empathy and compassion towards us. I think that was really made me feel very, very happy that I

was Sri Lankan, living in this country.

COREN (voice-over): Coming up, Sangakkara lets us in on whether retirement is really on the cut.

So that's a yes, (INAUDIBLE)?

(LAUGHTER)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

(MUSIC PLAYING)

SANGAKKARA (voice-over): After 1996, the cricket board has been controlled and administered by a handful of well-meaning individuals,

either personally or by proxy, rotated in and out, depending on appointment or election.

Unfortunately, to consolidate and perpetuate their powers, they opened the door of administration to partners and cronies that would lead to

corruption and wanton waste of cricket board finances and resources.

It was and still is confusing.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COREN (voice-over): They invited you to (INAUDIBLE) at Lord's and you spoke with such eloquence and passion and pride and authority.

But you did rock the boat.

Was that your intention?

SANGAKKARA: No, my intention was not to rock the boat, but my intention was -- that was part of my story. And it was not a huge secret.

It was about four lines out of a talk that lasted about 57 minutes.

And it was also very constructive, the four lines that I spoke about. And I don't think anyone had to get upset and the fact is that the large

majority did not get upset or didn't deal with negativity at all.

My story was about Sri Lankan cricket, and not just about playing the game, but what makes us Sri Lankans and how we play the game in a Sri

Lankan manner. And how much pride I take in the fact that I'm Sri Lankan, that I'm part of this wonderful sport and this wonderful country, being

able to do what I love every day and bring so much joy to so many people.

COREN: Well, it certainly was a brilliant speech, if I say so.

SANGAKKARA: Thank you.

COREN: But in those four lines, where you probably did ruffle some feathers, you spoke about corruption and greed within the Sri Lankan

cricket board.

Were there repercussions for you?

SANGAKKARA: No, there weren't repercussions that affected me personally at all. I think there were discussions with me. Then I was

able to answer every single question very, very directly and very truthfully. And I think once they saw the fact that in the larger context

of my speech, even those four lines were actually constructive. I think they all understood that it was nothing to be worried about.

COREN: Now you made the cricket World Cup final in 2007 against Australia and lost; 2009, you became captain and led your country to the

World Cup final against India. Again, you lost.

To come so close to victory and fail twice, was that crushing?

SANGAKKARA: Well, I think -- well, actually say four times, because 2007 was a (INAUDIBLE) World Cup final; 2009, we got to the T20 World Cup

finals; '11, again the -- 2011 was again the (INAUDIBLE) World Cup final and 2012, again, the T20 World Cup finals. So four finals, we lost.

I always think that it's better to lose in the preliminary rounds rather than get to the finals. The moment you get to the finals, the

expectations are such that losing is devastating. It's really crushing.

COREN: Kumar, why did you resign from the captaincy after the World Cup in 2011?

SANGAKKARA: Well, I took over the assignment in 2009, when the former captain, Mahela Jayawardene, resigned. I knew for a fact that mine was a

two-year term, the 2011 World Cup was my goal and once that was over, I was pretty much set, six months before the World Cup, I had already formed the

selectors of my position to step down.

At the same time, you know, I had issues with the fact of the way I was able to lead my team and to be able to have a certain sense of

independence to do what I thought was right. So I didn't want to end up being frustrated as the captain of the side, because I don't think that's a

healthy place to be.

And I think there were also other suitable candidates for that particular job.

COREN: Word is that you will retire (INAUDIBLE) after the World Cup, which will be hosted by Australia and New Zealand next year.

Is this true?

SANGAKKARA: I've been contemplating it. I've retired from T20 (INAUDIBLE). I'm playing two formats of the game. I think my one day

career is definitely done after the World Cup and even if I extend my career a year onwards from here, I only play another 79 Test matches.

So I've really got to sit down with the selectors, especially with Samaja Suvia (ph) and really discuss whether that's a worthwhile thing for

the team. So I think that's a tough ask. So maybe with the consent of the selectors, it might be the World Cup and nothing beyond.

COREN: So that's a yes? (INAUDIBLE)?

(LAUGHTER)

SANGAKKARA: I wouldn't say you have the scoop, but I will tell you that it is something that's -- that I'm seriously thinking of.

COREN: There are concerns about the future of Sri Lankan cricket once you retire as well as the likes of Mahela, Dilshan, Malinga, countries that

have lost their Awesome Foursome, which is fundamentally what you boys are, they have to go back to the building blocks and start over again.

Is that a concern for Sri Lanka?

SANGAKKARA: No, that's just a reality of playing sport. That's it. Every year, every once in a while, you get players who kind of dominate and

you get -- in Sri Lanka, we've had players year after year doing this. So I don't think we're anything special. We've done our job pretty well for

the country and now it's a turn of other people to take their responsibility up and looking at the bench strength we have, they're more

than capable of not just matching us, but I think some of these guys will do much better than we've done.

COREN: You've mentioned the World Cup next year and what that would mean to Sri Lanka and to you.

(CROSSTALK)

(INAUDIBLE) possible?

SANGAKKARA: Yes, it's possible, definitely.

Will they be ready for it? Yes, we will be. I hate being the sincere, you know, trying to tell you what will happen in that World Cup,

but we're going to give it our best shot, without a doubt. We have the variety now in our makeup to really compete. We've just got to ensure that

we are up to it every single game we play.

(INAUDIBLE) be huge.

COREN: Well, we certainly wish you the very best of work.

Kumar Sangakkara, an absolute pleasure to meet you.

SANGAKKARA: Likewise. Thank you very much. Thank you.

(MUSIC PLAYING)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: (INAUDIBLE).

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I love Sangakkara!

END