Kumar Sangakkara Talks Candidly About Many Things in Exhaustive Interview, 20 August 2015
The Island: By your own admission, you were an average cricketer at school while your contemporaries like Thilan Samaraweera, Mahela Jayawardene and Aviskha Gunawardene were way ahead. How have you been able to finish with a Test average of 58?
Sangakkara: I think there’s a lot of things that go into it. When you look back upon the game of cricket and your own career, you always realise that these are not things that you do alone. There are so many other contributions that enrich your career along the way that you learn from, you build upon and that will help you with your game. In my case, I had so many people – friends, family, coaches, teammates, opposition players that really lifted my game when I played. All of these factors contribute. And when I look back upon my career, I feel extremely blessed and extremely lucky to have been playing this game for so long and to have played it in the best manner that I could. I think it is important to play it with a sense of wonderment, like childhood wonder, because if you don’t enjoy the game and you don’t thrive in an environment where you are supposed to have fun, and also compete and perform at the highest level, it’s hard to be successful. I have just been in an environment that continually pushed me to get better.
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