A teary-eyed Kumar Sangakkara on Monday brought the curtains down on his phenomenal Test career by giving a heart-warming speech at the P Sara Oval Stadium in Colombo following Sri Lanka’s loss to India by 278 runs.
During his speech, an emotional Sangakaara thanked his family, coaches, friends, fans, teammates and the Indian team and said that representing Sri Lanka gave him immense pleasure.
VIDEO: Kumar Sangakkara gets emotional during his farewell speech
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qd9gq4QjzJw
It was a very emotional moment for crowd present in the stadium, Sanga’s friends, his family and his wife Yehali, who was seen getting emotional during Kumar’s farewell speech.
Here’s the full text of Kumar Sangakkara’s emotional 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.
To all the Sri Lankan fans, this gives me immense pleasure to represent Sri Lanka. Finally to Virat and the Indian team, thank you for all the words and your kindness. And you guys over the years have been our toughest opponents. Doesn’t matter if we’ve lost today, we’ll try and beat you in the next match (smiles). Angelo and your team, you’ve got a wonderful team. I hope you try hard, don’t be afraid to lose and keep the Sri Lankan flag flying high.
