Kumar Sangakkara feels Sri Lankan transition is taking too long

Former Sri Lankan wicket-keeper batsman Kumar Sangakkara feels that the transition phase for the team has taken too long for the island nation. Sri Lanka has struggled to come up with a replacement after the two titans of Sri Lankan cricket by the names of Mahela Jayawardena and Kumar Sangakkara, hung up their boots.

Shortly after the two champion batsmen quit playing cricket at the international level after representing their side for a better part of two decades, Tillakaratne Dilshan too called it quits after struggling with his form in the dawn of his career.

Kumar Sangakkara. who is currently a member of the elite panel of commentators in the Champions Trophy, expressed his concerns over the Sri Lankan struggle to find an apt replacement of the champion trio. Sangakkara pointed out the inefficiency of the Board to groom batsmen at the highest level. He further accused the board of mishandling the talented Dinesh Chandimal.

“The search has probably gone too long, We have had two and a half years of it now, looking for replacements for Dilshan, Mahela. One of the accusations directed at the management and the team has been that they haven’t groomed anyone to fill those voids. But I think the one man that was identified very early was Dinesh Chandimal, who performed excellently in South Africa, then in England, in Australia.” commented Sangakkara post Sri Lanka’s seven-wicket win over India at the Oval on Thursday.

Sanga lashes out at Sri Lankan Board

He then claimed the atmosphere around Chandimal whenever he came to bat wasn’t ideal for boosting the confidence of the young right-hander. The fact that he was removed from captaincy didn’t help his cause either especially after being appointed as the captain so early in his career.

“He’s actually had a period where he has been identified as the best young player and was appointed captain probably a bit too soon. Then he was dropped from captaincy, dropped from the team, so he has never had a consistent run in the position that he was identified for.” added the southpaw. “I don’t think the environment he’s played in has been very good for his confidence. Every time he takes the field, it’s almost as if he’s playing for his place, for survival, and that’s not a good place for a young player to be.” concluded Sangakkara.

Sri Lanka would be buoyant after their famous win against the mighty Indians by a handsome margin of 7 wickets. The young brigade of Sri Lanka stood up to the occasion chasing a mammoth target of 321. As a result, they now have a shot at the semi-finals berth if they win the match tomorrow against Pakistan.