Kumara Sangakkara, unlike his West Indian counterpart Chris Gayle is of the view that test cricket is the ultimate test of the abilities of an international cricket player, however as he goes into his first real test as skipper of his side, he also lauds international cricket’s newest and shortest format.

Sangakkara was quoted in the cricket news as saying that T20 cricket has opened up a whole new range of possibilities for batsmen and that limitations have been lifted. Batsmen have become more innovative, new shots have emerged and scoring rates of runs have improved according to the Sri Lankan skipper. And it isn’t as if technique has suffered because of T20 cricket says Sangakkara and nor is a sound technical base a limitation for playing T20 cricket. Batsmen can now use their technical base and then innovate and do a lot more utilising their basic technique.

According to Sangakkara, who was surprised when Jayawardene relinquished captaincy, his predecessor’s main ability was to calm down the side and also inspire them at the same time. Jayawardene was an attacking captain most of the time but knew when he had to defend as well. Sangakkara has a wide variety of talent at his disposal going into the T20 World Cup, not least his team’s X factor; or ‘slinger’ Malinga.

After a productive IPL, Lasith Malinga is one Sri Lankan cricketer who will be looking to making his mark in the T20 World Cup. Laid low by a long and mysterious knee injury that kept him out of international cricket for a very long time, Malinga enjoyed a miraculous recovery thanks to the spiritual healer Eliyantha White who was recommended for treatment by none other than the Sri Lankan president Mahinda Rajapaksa.

For Malinga it was a painful injury that prevented even the climbing of stairs which seemed to have no cure even after trying all available options, which was cured rather miraculously in just five days after months and months of suffering. White, who also reportedly cured Sanath Jayasuriya of a niggling back pain, is someone who works with supernatural powers according to Malinga.

Malinga has had a good IPL even though his team did not do very well in the tournament. He managed as many as 18 wickets in his 13 matches for the Mumbai Indians and team coach Pravin Amre was highly appreciative of his abilities and how difficult he was to get away. He will always be a welcome part of the Sri Lankan team.

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3.25 Copyright (C) 2007 Alain Georgette / Copyright (C) 2006 Frantisek Hliva. All rights reserved."

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