Kumara Sangakkara took over as the captain of the Sri Lankan cricket team yesterday, according to breaking cricket news, when he replaced Mahela Jayawardene who announced his stepping down from the captaincy after the Indian tour of Sri Lanka. Sangakkara has said that the immediate focus for him is on the Twenty20 World Cup that begins in England and June and to build a strong team for it.
Kumara Sangakkara’s three year stint as vice captain of the Sri Lankan cricket team and long standing friendship with outgoing skipper Mahela Jayawardene would have given him some grounding in leading the Lankan side in international cricket.
"It is a huge honour and great privilege to be given the captaincy of the Sri Lanka cricket team. I had no hesitation is accepting the responsibility when the chairman of selectors offered me the job. I am very excited by the challenge ahead," said Sangakkara as reported in the cricket news and added that his immediate job would be to prepare his team for the upcoming T20 World Cup in June to be held in England.
Sangakkara was quoted in the cricket news as giving fulsome praise to the outgoing captain, "Taking over from such a great player and a successful captain like Mahela is a great feeling,” with whom Sangakkara sees "eye-to-eye on many things." Sangakkara also said that Jayawardene had matured as a captain and that he had been an inspiration the way he handled his players. He said that he would be planning for the future but also looking to “winning immediate matches and gaining confidence.”
In a recent interview Sangakkara spoke about all that he and his team had undergone in the past couple of weeks; the trauma and injuries sustained from the Lahore attacks. According to him it was not just about actual cricket skills only, but also about group mentality. “It's always a big responsibility to take on a cricket captaincy, but with what the team has undergone in the last two weeks there is a special significance and dimension to that responsibility. It is not just about our cricketing skill now, but our group mentality and the need to ensure everyone is firing for the World Twenty20 in England.”
Sangakkara, who is still recuperating after being injured in the Lahore attacks, acknowledged that there were things that required discussion between players. “We really have to sit down and have a very honest and open discussion about whether what has happened will change the players in any way, to talk about their families and whether we can take something good from what has happened in Lahore,” he said, adding, “Most of them (the Lankan players) are spending some time at home with their families and appreciating the little things they may have taken for granted before. But all of them are raring to get back to cricket and some are already back in training.”
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