Sri Lanka's Kumar Sangakkara quits captaincy: Cricket news
Kumar Sangakkara has decided to step down from the captaincy of the Sri Lankan cricket team after he failed to lead them to victory against http://www.senore.com/Cricket/India-c750 in the final of the ICC World Cup 2011. This was the second time in a row that the Lankan Lions made it to the
final of the Mega Event and failed to lift the trophy.
The veteran player stated, “I am immediately stepping down as skipper of the national one-day and Twenty20 teams but want to continue to be the Test captain for this summer's tour of http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Australia-c746 to ensure a smooth
transition.”
Sangakkara further added, “I made up my mind before the World Cup to allow a new captain to develop a team for the 2015 tournament in Australia and http://www.senore.com/Cricket/New-Zealand-c754.”
Before the start of the ICC World Cup 2011, former cricketers and experts tipped co-hosts Sri Lanka and India as the favourites for the tournament. Both teams were placed in different groups and had mixed performances in the pool matches.
The Men-in-Blue were in Group B of the tournament and ended up in second place behind http://www.senore.com/Cricket/South-Africa-c757. They weren’t able to show consistency, failing to win matches against England and the Proteas. However, they played competitive cricket in the knockout stages
to reach the final.
On the other hand, Sri Lanka also finished second in their group. They out classed their opponents in the knockout stages, but failed to live up to the expectations in the clash against India.
Although http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Sri-Lanka-c758 posted a very decent total of 274 in the final, they weren’t able to defend it successfully. The team got off to a slow start, but an unbeaten century form veteran Mahela Jayawardene shifted the momentum towards them.
India didn’t get off to an ideal start, as they lost their openers http://www.senore.com/Cricket/MS-Dhoni-c2028 guided the team to a historic victory.
Sangakkara was a bit unlucky, as his team suffered from injury problems to some of the key players like Angelo Matthews and http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Muttiah-Muralitharan-c78157. His deputy was Mahela Jayawardene, who had already handed over the job to the wicketkeeper batsman.
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