'Are these the best players Sri Lanka got?' - Kumar Sangakkara answers Michael Atherton's uneasy question

Kumar Sangakkara has made a smooth transition from playing cricket to becoming one of the leading commentators in his country. Recently, he was seen during the ICC World Test Championship final in Southampton, where he played the role of a neutral commentator. After this, he travelled to Cardiff and later came back to Southampton for the T20I series between England and Sri Lanka. 

During this series, Sangakkara was the only representative from his country in the Sky Sports studio. However, it can be easily said that his experience inside the commentary box wasn’t the most fulfilling or pleasant one. That is not because the legend had an issue expressing his views, but it was the dismal performance of the Sri Lankan team.

Sri Lanka lost the first two matches, where they scored 129 for 7 and 111 for 7 respectively. The wicket was slow in Cardiff, but that can’t be an excuse, given how the English batters batted. In the third match, Sri Lanka’s batting hit another low as they were bowled for 91 runs chasing a target of 181.

It’s also about identifying who you want to take forward: Kumar Sangakkara

The English commentators of Sky Sports kept on stating the lack of intent shown by the Sri Lankan batsmen, which was not in sync with the modern standards of T20 batting. At one point during Sri Lanka’s run chase in the third T20I, former England captain Michael Atherton asked Sangakkara if this was the best team that Sri Lanka could field. 

“I think this is the best squad,” Sangakkara replied. “There are a few others who’ve been in the mix – Chandimal, Thisara Perera, who’s now retired, Angelo Mathews, Thirimanne, and Karunaratna- who have batted beautifully in Test cricket. But then it’s also about identifying who you want to take forward on the journey to the T20 World Cup, which is the immediate target, then, of course, the 2023 World Cup,” Sangakkara said as quoted by Cricwire.

The former cricketer, who was recently inducted in the ICC Hall of Fame, further pointed out the structure of the Sri Lankan first-class system which hasn’t been up to the mark in recent times and has not produced international level cricketers. “The other thing is if these are the best players, why then are they playing the way they do? That can be traced back to not just them being in International cricket, but also to first-class cricket” Sangakkara concluded.