sangakkara farewell speech

Your excellency, the President of Sri Lanka, the honourable Prime Minister, Members of Parliament, all the well wishers and the invitees, fans, all my friends, my family - who are all here, which is a rare occasion that all of us are together - Virat Kohli and the Indian team, Angelo and my team, I have got so many people to thank here.

I will start off with my school - Trinity College, Kandy. Trinity College gave me a fantastic ground there in Kandy. It was an amazing school to go to. I owe a lot of who I am today to the grounding and foundation I got there. To all my coaches - I had so many because my father used to take me to so many coaches when I was young - a big thank you.

To all my past captains, to Sri Lanka Cricket, to all my team-mates, thank you very much for everything that you've done for me. The support that I received, the inspiration, the drive and the commitment you have shown, not just to the game but also to each other and to me, I value all very, very highly. I am going to miss all that chat we had in the dressing room.

To Charlie and Suthami Austin, thank you very much for managing me. You've become much more than managing, you've become family. I know I haven't thanked you enough in the past but today I'd like to say a huge thank you to Charlie and Suthami for being friends and being my managers and most of all for making me the godfather of your beautiful children.

I didn't have to look far for inspiration (gets emotional). My parents are here. I didn't have to look far. I had amazing siblings. I am blessed with a wonderful family. I was blessed to be born as your children. When I look up at the box, people that I've known for 30 years, friends, family, everyone is here and to see that they love me is great and it will be my greatest achievement.

Lot of people ask me who inspired me and I always say I didn't have to look far for inspiration. I am sorry I don't want to embarrass you too much, but I didn't have to look far from my home for inspiration because I have the most amazing parents that anyone could wish for.

I had amazing siblings and all the support, the love that they showed over the years, whether I played cricket or not, whether I did well or not, the only place I could go and feel safe was home and thank you 'amma' (mother) and 'apachchi' (father). Thank you.

It's been one of the most special privileges of my life to play in front of the Sri Lankan people and Sri Lankan fans. I'm especially thankful to your love and support. My innings has ended. I won't play international cricket again. But I'll come with you Khettarama, to Galle, to Tamil Union, and to SSC to watch the young cricketers play.

To Virat and his team, thank you most of all for the wonderful cricket that you've played. I can't ask for anything more than tough cricket when I'm leaving and you guys over the years have been our toughest opponents.

We've planned to beat you, we have at times and at other times we have failed, but thank you so much for putting in that effort. It doesn't matter whether we lost today, we will try to beat you again in the next game, but thank you for the toughness, thank you for giving no quarter, and thank you for really making it a privilege of mine to play against you.

And to Angelo and the team… Angie you've got an amazing team, you've got an amazing future and I just hope you will work hard and enjoy this sport, this sport we only play for a short times. It comes and goes, but don't be afraid. Take pride in what you do, don't be afraid to lose when you are searching for a win, and keep Sri Lanka and the flag flying high.

Thank you.

Fluent Rahul, Kohli put India in command

Lokesh Rahul's fluent unbeaten essay and Virat Kohli's brisk 78 helped India seize the initiative in the second session of the Colombo Test. Rahul, who played a key role in reviving the Indian innings after two early wickets, continued his stay at the wicket as India reached 206/3 at tea on Day 1. While Kohli's dominating knock, off 107 balls, included eight fours and a six, Rahul displayed a much calmer demeanour, remaining unbeaten on 98 at the break. The duo added 164 runs for the third wicket.

The hard surface at the P Sara Oval eased up after lunch, allowing the two settled Indian batsmen to seize control. Kohli wasted no time in getting past his first milestone of the match - fifty off just 63 balls - as the ball started to come onto the bat nicely. The quickest bowler at Angelo Mathews' disposal, Dushmanta Chameera tried to create chances by digging the ball short regularly but it hardly troubled the two batters in the middle. Kohli's form and intention looked ominous, as he punished even the rare good delivery, while Rahul too grew in confidence and reached his half-century with a booming straight drive.

Mathews turned to his heroes of the Galle Test - Rangana Herath and Tharindu Kaushal - for a crucial breakthrough but the lack of assistance from the wicket made it easy for the Indian batsmen to score runs off them. Kohli attacked the insipid bowling and looked set for his fifth century as Test skipper in as many games until a sensational one-handed diving catch from Mathews at first slip off Herath, sent the Indian captain packing for 78, against the run of play. 

Rohit Sharma walked out in his new batting position at number five as Sri Lanka hoped to cause a few more in-roads before. Rohit displayed good eye while defending early on and took on Herath, hitting him for a four and a six, in the penultimate over before tea. Rahul looked a bit edgy after reaching the 90s and finished the session, two runs short of his second Test ton.

Kohli shouldn't curb his aggression: Dravid

  

Virat Kohli's plan to spend quality time in the middle before the Sri Lanka tour was cut short by Australia 'A', with the Test skipper getting out early in both innings. India 'A' coach Rahul Dravid, though, says there is no cause for worry. "Virat had not played for over a month before coming here. I think he has spent a good amount of time in the middle. Virat is very keen to perform and is working hard at the nets," Dravid said.

"He can only work with the team he has got and focus on getting the best out of them. Sometimes things will not go well and sometimes it will. It was great for him to come in and play a game here. The time he spent here will do him a world of good. He is keen, excited and looking forward towards doing well," Dravid added.

The former India captain also said that Virat should not look to curb his aggressive intent as captain. "You need to be who you are. The beauty of this game is that it allows different people to succeed. Most people who succeed over a period of time are aggressive. They show it differently. Some are more expressive and some are not. Virat is expressive by nature and he should not curb this approach," said Dravid.

On Cheteshwar Pujara's declining form, Dravid said, "I don't think there are any major issues with his batting. He needs a bit of confidence. Batting for some time in the middle will help him. Hopefully, he will get a chance to score runs in the practice match before the Test series against Sri Lanka and that will help him to get going," said Dravid.

India A were outplayed by Australians in familiar conditions but Dravid said national team's bench strength was not a worry. "I wouldn't say it is a worry. We will have ups and downs but there is some exciting talent too. You can't judge them based on every single game. We will lose the odd game. Winning and losing an 'A' series is not the end of the world. You are actually preparing them for the international level. That is the goal.

"I have been quite happy to see some spin talent. Ojha (Pragyan) came back and bowled well. Shreyas Gopal has potential. Jayant Yadav is an exciting talent. There is Axar (Patel) and Karn (Sharma). So there is a group that is coming through. So it is not as it bleak as it seems. Same with batting. They can learn from this game and play better against South Africa," said Dravid referring to the series against South Africa A."