5 of cricket's most articulate personalities
The sport of cricket brings with itself a rewarding and fulfilling, and yet a short career for all of its practitioners. With the average age of retirement for international cricketers being about 35 years, one-half of a cricketer’s life, on an average, is essentially spent not being attached to the game. While the domestic T20 leagues have given them a new avenue, as far as earning a livelihood while playing the game is concerned, for the players who retired before the advent of the shortest format of the game even this is not an option.
However, apart from the skills shown on the field, there have been some gifted men and women, with proven soft skills and a knack for engaging the audience through their voice and style of presenting the action on the field. Several former cricketers have gone on to become some of the most articulate commentators, and even those who haven’t forayed into commentary have had the opportunity to showcase the gift of the gab that they have been bestowed with.
Here, in this piece, we bring to you five of cricket’s most articulate personalities.
#5 Kumar Sangakkara (Sri Lanka)
Sri Lanka’s top run-getter in Tests and arguably one of the best wicket-keeper batsmen in the world, Kumar Sangakkara, has left behind a legacy that can be matched by only a few. With 12400 Test runs at an average of 57.40 and 14234 ODI runs at 41.98, the 38-year-old Sri Lankan is rated amongst the best to have played the game and also amongst the some of the best men to have displayed their skills behind the stumps.
However, Sangakkara, who is still active in first-class cricket and also plays various T20 leagues around the world, has also been gifted with a style of speech that panders to the listeners. With a natural accent and a good command over the language, Sanga, as he was famously referred to by his teammates, has the gift of the gab that has endeared many.
It was due to this soft skill that the Asian cricketer was invited deliver the 2011 MCC Spirit of Cricket Cowdrey Lecture at the Lord’s Cricket Ground, in London. Sangakkara has also served short stints in the commentary box since his retirement in August 2015, and had it not been for his involvement with Sri Lanka Cricket as an administrator, we may have seen him delivering his opinions from the commentary box as well.