Kumar Sangakkara alleges an SLC official having personal vendetta against him

Jul 30, 2014

Kumar Sangakkara has said that an official of Sri Lanka Cricket (SLC) has troubled him in the recent times due to a personal agenda. Sangakkara spoke in the light of Lasith Malinga’s decision to play in the Champions League T20 2014 for Mumbai Indians instead of the Sri Lankan qualifiers. Last year, Sangakkara had wished to play for his then Indian Premier League (IPL) side Sunrisers Hyderabad, but wasn’t allowed to do so and ended up representing the Kandurata Maroons.

Also Read CLT20 2013: Kumar Sangakkara chooses not to be part of Sunrisers Hyderabad

Speaking to The Island, Sangakkara claims he had the support of some of the top ranking officials in the board, but that one person spoilt it for him. “My situation was different. The Chairman of cricket Selectors, the President of SLC and the entire SLC were extremely supportive of me. It was a case of one individual carrying out his personal agenda and vendetta against me. It’s painfully obvious this was the case as he has been amazingly quiet in the public arena on this issue this time,” he said.

At the same time, Sangakkara supported Malinga’s decision and said that he made the right choice of playing for Mumbai as that will help another young player get good exposure. He said, “Lasith has made the right decision. It must have been quite tough for him, but he has done it in a prudent and practical manner. All players in other countries chose the IPL franchise. The decision is also important as without Lasith playing it opens up a slot for another player to face the pressure cooker level on the international arena. That’s an important factor looking beyond the next World Cup. Sometimes that’s more important than winning a game here or there. Considering all that I support Lasith’s decision.”

It was also reported that Sangakkara and this official did not look eye to eye on numerous occasions during his captaincy from 2009 to 2011. Sangakkara then stood down from captaincy, but has remained an integral part of the Sri Lankan team, only retiring from T20 Internationals this year after the ICC World T20 2014 victory in Bangladesh. He is now one of their biggest hopes ahead of the ICC World Cup 2015.