Kumar Sangakkara was driven by a “healthy rivalry” with Mahela Jayawardene, former Sri Lanka coach Tom Moody has said. Both men have retired as Sri Lanka’s two highest Test run scorers – Sangakkara sits atop the list with 12,400 runs.
The pair had bloomed during Moody’s stint as coach, and memorably struck a world-record 624 runs together against South Africa in 2006. Sri Lanka drew Test series in England and New Zealand, and progressed to the final of the 2007 World Cup under Moody.
“There’s a very strong bond between Mahela and Kumar, but I also think there was a healthy rivalry between the two,” Moody said. “It never really came to the surface. It was underlying. It was there in a positive way where one would drive the other with their performances. That’s why they were so formidable as a partnership in the middle.”
Moody described the pair as a “coach’s dream” because of their leadership ability and tenacity. Jayawardene became captain during Moody’s tenure, during which the Sri Lanka team also moved away from a strongly hierarchical team culture.
“Mahela and Kumar really sang from the same hymn sheet with regards to trying to improve the professionalism around the team, and trying to improve the mindset of the team playing outside of Sri Lanka. One of the great challenges we addressed during my tenure was to look at the way we play away from home and look at the technical and mental aspect of how we play outside Sri Lanka. Mahela and Kumar ran with that idea because they saw it as a great challenge for them both. Once you have players of that quality on board, you very quickly gather momentum within the team. ”
Sangakkara also made a definitive career move under Moody. He had been the Test side’s wicketkeeper batsman through the early noughties, but gave up the gloves ahead of that series against South Africa in mid-2006.
“I remember Kumar having a conversation with me about halfway through my time with as a coach,” Moody said. “He was seeking my advice about his role as the wicketkeeper-batsman in the side and his career ambitions. I said to him at the time that the team wanted him to do everything, but at the same time that batting and keeping wicket in all formats wasn’t something he could do for a long period, and do it as successfully as he would like.
“I just asked him, ‘What’s your ambition as a batsman? Do you want to be the best batsman in the world?’ He basically said he wanted to achieve that milestone – he didn’t say he wanted to be the best batsman in the world, just that he wanted to be the best he possibly could be. So I said to him, ‘The team’s going to benefit either way. If you’re going to have that ambition to be the best you can be by handing the gloves in in Test cricket, the team’s going to be the beneficiary of that.’ We’ve seen over the last seven years that he has been the most consistent Test batsman over that period.”
Moody also said Sangakkara was “right at the top” of players he has coached “with regards to how thorough his preparation was”. Sangakkara was not captain during Moody’s time with the team, but had become a leader within the group.
“The standout leadership skill with Kumar was setting the great example on and off the field. He was very thoughtful and articulate as well. A lot of players would gravitate towards him naturally and learn from his mature outlook on the game and on life. That has been one of the important features of Sri Lanka cricket – that they’ve had Kumar and Mahela as those godfather figureheads to guide the team and the next generation through.”