Satire: Five things that would have happened if Kumar Sangakkara wasn't a cricketer
Sri Lanka’s greatest cricketer of all-time, Kumar Sangakkara (I consider the likes of Arjuna Ranatunga, Sanath Jayasuriya, Muttiah Muralitharan and Mahela Jayawardene to have never played International cricket for Lanka) turns 40 today. As a part of his birthday celebrations, a huge ceremony took place at the historic Sinhalese Sports Club (SSC) in Colombo, a venue that will go down in the history books as Sangakkara Slaughter Center (SSC).
During the ceremony, a fan quoted, “I wasn’t born when Don Bradman played cricket. But, I was lucky enough to witness Sangakkara, the legend (ya, he actually meant it) bat and smash the bowlers(Someone please wake him up from his slumber) all over the park.”
Also read: What if: MS Dhoni took up football instead of cricket
Another fan got emotional and while shedding tears (tears of joy?), went on to speak of all that could have happened had Sangakkara not played cricket. Hmmm, this seems interesting.
On that note, here are some events that would have transpired had Sangakkara not been a professional cricketer.
Disclaimer: This article is a work of fiction.
#1 Don Bradman would have been the greatest batsman of all-time
How often in the recent past have you seen people praising Kumar Sangakkara as the greatest batsman of all-time? Some Lankan fans went overboard by calling him the best after Bradman or the left-handed Don Bradman. Few fans even exaggerated by terming him something that I don't wish to say here.
This is evident by the fact that Sangakkara went on to win the ‘Greatest ODI player of all-time’ poll conducted by Cricket Australia beating the likes of Virat Kohli and Sanath Jayasuriya before beating Sachin Tendulkar by a huge margin in the finals. But, there are allegations that his fans used bots to cast the votes and that might be the reason why ‘shhhhhh.’
Bradman and Sangakkara in the same league? I just said this statement to my colleague sitting next to me and he started laughing as if he had just witnessed a comic flick on TV. If Sangakkara wasn't a cricketer, Bradman’s fame as the greatest of all time would have been safe.