2nd April, 2011 will always have an iconic significance in Indian cricket as they lifted the World Cup after a wait of 28 long years and in the process became the first country to win it in front of their own fans. The Mahendra Singh Dhoni six which was iconically called by Ravi Shastri and then the crowd erupting is still fresh in the memory.
Gary Kirsten threw his head back in delight, Yuvraj ran towards Dhoni and both hugged each other in elation and in the backdrop was Kumar Sangakkara, Sri Lankan captain who wore a wry smile on his face. Since then many have highlighted the dignified response of the man from Kandy, who after losing the World Cup final didn’t throw any tantrums and all he did was wear that smile, under which he hid his disappointment quite beautifully.
In a recent interaction with Ravichandran Ashwin Sangakkara opened up on what was going through his mind at the moment and what made him react like that. “I think, in my life, living in Sri Lanka, there are lots of things that bring you down. There are lots of things that you worry about. 30 years we have had wars, we have had natural disasters in 2005. We have so many different issues but one of the greatest things about Sri Lankan’s is resilience. It is just inborn in us. When we play, we want to win, we are extremely competitive,” he said.
“Whether we win or lose, we have this equilibrium on how to take a win or loss. The smile hides a huge amount of sadness, of disappointment, of thinking of 20 million people back in Sri Lanka who had been waiting for this for so long, since 1996,” he said while speaking to Ravi Ashwin in an Instagram live session on Thursday.
