Guard of Honour! Standing Ovations! Prayers for a fairy-tale ending!
These are certain phrases we are accustomed to hearing when a Cricketer walks out to play his final match. And when the names are Michael John Clarke and Kumara Chokshanada Sangakkara, you can't help but get yourself involved in all the energy, the nerve cracking excitement, that heavy feeling in your chest, the urge to express your feelings in someway or the other, in my case type it down and share it with those who would bother to spend some time reading the words of a hopeless romantic watching the cricketers he has come to love, leave the sport and walk away.
There would have been a whole generation of cricket fans who would have spend days mourning the departure of cricketers like Jonty Rhodes, Alan Donald, Steve Waugh or Wasim Akram. I couldn't care less (Now I do wish I had the chance of watching these players play when they were in their prime), I had just begun getting involved with cricket when these cricketers were leaving.
The pangs in the chest began when the likes of Marcus Trescothik, Ashley Giles, Andrew Flintoff, Shaun Pollock, Sourav Ganguly, Anil Kumble, Adam Gichrist, Mathew Hayden, Inzamam Ul Haq, Damien Martyn, Paul Collingwood among others began leaving. That feeling of heartbreak shot to dangerous heights in March 2012 when Rahul Dravid bid goodbye. I thought it would end there, but little did I know that were more waiting in line. VVS Laxman, Graeme Smith, Sachin Tendulkar, Jacques Kallis, Mahela Jayawardene, Daniel Vettori! So many in short a span of time! I've not even completed my Engineering yet. Now I'm just hoping that I get to watch Virender Sehwag and Shivnarine Chanderpaul play one last time in their Indian and West Indian Whites respectively. Oh and also hoping that AB de Villiers, Dale Steyn, Kane Williamson, Hashim Amla and few other current cricketers somehow get some Non-ageing boon and ending up playing for their national teams for like forever (No I won't get bored, what the hell).
Coming back to the two 'Men of the Hour'! Both of them were batting linchpins of their respective sides, both them captained their respective sides, both of them spent most of their time fielding, in Test Cricket, behind the stumps. One of them was from a team that specialized in sledging, the other was, if it can be put in this way, someone who was considered a true professional when it came to sledging. Imagine the state of mind of the batsman when the Wicket Keeper standing right behind keeps ranting on and on, with the sole intention of creating frustration. And guess what, that batsman was most probably facing the mystery doosras of spin wizard Muttiah Muralitharan. Would that have not been frustrating enough.
Clarke was widely considered as a representative of the modern Australian man! Yuppie, tattooed, Blonde spiked hair (which was cut short towards the end of his career), Sanga on the other hand was considered as one of the most polished and prudent cricketers. Heck! That guy did his primary and secondary schooling in some elite private boys' school (guess that explains that heavy accent), went on to study law. Now imagine Kumara Sangakkara BA.BL! Nope, get back to the world where Sanga played international cricket.
You've heard of dream Test debuts, but consider this. As a player who averaged less than 40 in First-Class cricket, Clarke made his Test debut against an unassuming Indian side, at a stadium about 9 kilometres away from my place of residence. A score of 151. over the top celebrations (completely understandable though), teary eyed family members applauding from the stands! A new Australian batting star was born.
Sangakkara's test debut was from being called memorable, neither was his ODI debut. But all this was short-lived as he bagged his first Player of the match award in his second ODI, finishing that particular series with 199 runs at an average of 66.33. Test match triple figure glory took some time to come though. He was dismissed twice in the 90s before he brought up his maiden century a year after his Test debut. Take a wild guess against which team it was (HINT: I____A). Two more Test Centuries and almost a year later, Sanga had his first Double Century.
Clarke had to face poor form, being dropped from the team, subsequent return to the team, captaincy and arrival into roaring form, seven years and 17 centuries since debut, to finally cross the 200 mark. But that innings didn't end their. He went on to cross the 300 mark too. There are no special gifts for guessing against which particular team this feat was achieved (HINT: Aye, Come on!). This innings was just the beginning of what the year 2012 had in store for Clarke. The year ended with Clarke scoring 1595 runs at an average 106.33. He had Four 200+ scores that year. Yes you read that right, not one, not two, but FOUR 200+ scores in a single calendar year.
It took Sangakkara two years since his maiden double ton to rack up another century. He did go big this time too, crossing the 200 barrier again. Three months later he had another double century to his name. Two years later another double century, but this was special! Sanga, along his Best Mate Mahela Jayawardene, absolutely grind-ed the South African bowling attack, breaking a plethora of records. When they were done, they had put on together 624 runs.
And at the end of it all Sangakkara finished with 11 double centuries.
And at the end of it all Sangakkara finished with 11 double centuries.
Clarke had to take over the post of Captain from Ricky Ponting, arguably one of the most successful captains the cricketing world had ever seen (statistically at least). The job was not going to be easy. He did have his share of success, totally baffling the Indian team twice, winning the World Cup, being the top scorer in his final ODI game-the World Cup Final, getting his team composed and ready after the untimely demise of a team mate, a friend. Fifty percent win record in Test Matches, 67.5% win record in ODIs. Those, though not extremely impressive, are not bad numbers for a captain. But what people will remember is that the Aussies lost The Ashes twice out of the three campaigns that they played under Michael Clarke.
After a far from impressive stint as captain for two years, having had to face the heartbreak of losing in the finals of the 2009 ICC World T20 and also the 2011 ICC World Cup, Sangakkara decided to step down and concentrate on his batting, passing the mantle on to someone who could handle the pressures of captaincy better (Tillakaratne Dilshan might have not been the best choice though).
Clarke, though part of the era that saw a transition in the Australian cricket team, saw himself playing a good amount of cricket alongside the players that formed the core of the Australian team that seemed unbeatable most often than not. A World Cup victory in 2007 with the Invincible, ruthless Australian side, another World Cup victory in 2011 with the new generation Australian side, Michael Clarke had been part of both sides.
Sangakkara and the Sri Lankan players he played alongside, often came agonizingly close to repeating the dream run of 1996. But almost always they were left with the Runner-Up tag. Be it the 2007 Cricket World Cup, 2011 Cricket World Cup, 2009 ICC World T20 or 2012 ICC World T20, Sri Lanka did not seem capable of crossing that final hurdle. But Sangakkara couldn't leave the stage without a World Cup trophy, helping his side to a victory in the final of the 2014 ICC World T20, hence tasting World Cup success for the first time, finally. Sangakkara did seem determined to take home another World Cup winner's medal, as he racked up four back to back centuries in his last ODI tournament, the 2015 Cricket World Cup. But a lackluster bowling attack and dwindling form of some other senior batsmen meant that Sangakkara's single handed heroism could not take his team beyond the Quarter Final stage.
A nagging injury coupled with an elongated period of poor form meant that Clarke had to announce his retirement from Test Cricket. 17112 international runs, 36 international centuries later Michael Clarke departs from the international stage, not in the fashion he would've liked (no Australian captain would like to lose his last series, and if it is the Ashes, then of course not), but not beofre overseing the transition period and leaves the side in the hands of one of the best present day batsmen.
For any human, how much ever you hope it doesn't happen, age does catch up. Asking someone to play at the international level beyond the age of 37 is unjust and hence 27966 international runs, 63 international centuries later, the phenomenon that was Kumar Sangakkara leaves the international stage.
As the two greats of the game, playing their final matches at different parts of the word, bid goodbye to the international stage, yet again leaving cricket fans all over the world blubbering, we can't help but bask in the legacy they leave behind.
Thank You for the memories Pup and Sanga!
So Long!
-Subramaniam Nagaraj
