It has almost been close to two years since the time
Sachin Tendulkar called time on his international career but such has been his
everlasting impact that he still is part of press conferences one way or the
other.
In two Tests' time here, another legendary career
will come to an end as the Sri Lankan legend Kumar Sangakkara raises his bat to
the galleries for one last time. That, though, is not the immediate focus until
the India-Sri Lanka Test series reaches Colombo.
The first Test between India and Sri Lanka here,
which will be Sanga's last the venue, is making news at the moment, but the
batting legend remains the centre of attraction as the ground, with the
majestic Galle Fort in the background, gets in the grip of Sanga fever.
His was the most anticipated press conference on the
eve of the first Test, and while he touched upon almost everything related to
his cricket career, a mention of Sachin Tendulkar drew special attention.
"I always strived to play Tendulkar-like
straight drive," Sanga said when asked who he has admired all through his
career.
"You can't put me in that classical left-hander
mould. You always search for the classic Tendulkar push off the back-foot shot
for a boundary. I always wanted to play all the shots [Brian] Lara played, but
you can't. I knew my limitations and I played around it," the veteran of
132 Tests added.
Showing the maker's name to the bowler is probably
the best way to send him back to his mark and for any batsman it is a sign of
authority, and the 37-year-old Sri Lankan was one of the very few in the world
who mastered that art.
The elegant left-hander, who doesn't consider
himself to be in that "classical mould", also spoke about the
India-Sri Lanka rivalry and how it came as a challenge in his playing career to
be up against some of the greats of his time.
"India and Sri Lanka is a great rivalry. When
you are up against the likes of Sachin Tendulkar, Sourav Ganguly, Rahul Dravid,
VVS Laxman, Virender Sehwag, you know you are in with a tough job," he
said.
"And then you have Harbhajan Singh and Zaheer
Khan, who to me is one of the most difficult bowlers I have ever faced. It's an
exceptional feeling going in and playing against greats and in our side, we
have had [Muttiah] Muralitharan, Sanath [Jayasuriya], Aravinda [De Silva],
Marvan [Atapattu], [Chaminda] Vaas and Mahela [Jayawardena].
The champion batsman also went on to draw
comparisons between Sehwag and Jayasuriya, while maintaining that India and Sri
Lanka have evolved differently.
"When you take Jayasuriya and Sehwag, they are
very similar in the way they go about their business. You have the classical
elegance in, of course, Tendulkar, Dravid and Laxman. We have the same in
Marvan and Mahela, but at the same time our approach is slightly more carefree.
Our brand of cricket has been that since 1995 and we have also banked probably
a bit more on pace during the times when India was banking a bit more on
spin," he explained.
"It's been a few different approaches to it but
again, it seems to have come a full circle where India has a good pace attack
as well now and a different crop of young batsmen, whose attitudes are
different. We are the same. It will be interesting to see if those styles are
more similar than they were before."
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