Kumar Sangakkara
has said that the Sri Lankan board should choose a long-term captain as
his successor and not give someone a caretaker role. Sangakkara said
both Tillakaratne Dilshan and Angelo Mathews were ready for captaincy but said they should be given longer tenures if they are to be successful.
"You have to look long term. Not just what is good for now. If you want
to go for Dilshan, give him the confidence for a long term," Sangakkara
told ESPNcricinfo. "Don't give the captaincy to Dilshan and say, 'You
are just going to be captain for a year and half.' It's not going to be
good for him, for he is going to think, 'My days are numbered anyway.'
And so it won't be good for the team.
"Both Dilshan and Angie [Angelo] are suitable. If they think Angie is
too young then Dilshan will do a good job because he has these little
touches for success. Anything he does on the field, he has this little
knack. I don't know whether he will be the long-term candidate with his
age, but if he keeps himself fit he can easily play the next World Cup.
"Or they can take the plunge with Angelo. That is where the selectors
have to really make a call. Pressure will have to be shared, if they
make a call and if things don't go well in the first or second year,
they will have to be strong that they made a good decision. They will
have to put everything possible in to make sure the captain has
everything to do a good job. If it doesn't go well even after that,
maybe you can re-evaluate."
Reflecting on his own decision to resign, Sangakkara admitted that it
was partly selfish but said the majority of the decision was based on
what he felt was good for Sri Lanka. "No matter how much I try to deny
it, there is a lot of 'me' in that decision. Having said that a large
part of the decision is what I think is the way forward for the team.
The way forward is not as difficult as people make it out to be. Players
come players go and so do captains. Yet teams progress. That is the
natural progression.
Sangakkara said the administrators had the good of Sri Lankan cricket at
heart but should never do anything that affects the players. "You can
have your administrative scuffles but when it comes to playing cricket,
players should not get involved with administration unless it's
something that directly affects their performance. And administrators
should never cross that line. If they can maintain that familiarity and
at the same time the professional distance it would be great. It can go
wrong. It has gone wrong at times."
Sangakkara said he took the decision to resign three months before the
World Cup and that Mahela Jayawardene supported it. "I am not resigning
because I am unhappy. I can do this for longer but I don't think it's
the right thing for me or for the team. Another World Cup is coming up
in four years. We think four years is a long time but suddenly you will
realise two years have already gone and the system hasn't changed. A new
guy is appointed with hardly any time to lead the team."
Sangakkara said the decisions to phase out Sanath Jayasuriya and
Chaminda Vaas were the most difficult ones he took as captain. "It was a
very delicate situation because Sanath and Vaasy are legends. You need
to be 100% sure you are making the right decision. Personal likes and
dislikes have nothing to do with what's best for the team. We are a
family, but you have arguments, your problems - that's the way it should
be, else nothing constructive is going to work."
Sangakkara said age wasn't the criterion to drop these players and that
it was purely about performance and team combination. "Sanath and Vaasy
missed selection [for the World Cup] by a whisker. It was unbiased: it's
not about age. If someone is performing and contributing to the value
of the dressing room, nothing else matters. It was a never a case of, oh
he is old."
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