Test cricket should always be the priority, says Kumar Sangakkara – Cricket News Update
Former Sri Lankan captain, http://www.senore.com/Cricket/KC-Sangakkara-c1779, believes that Test cricket should remain the priority for every young cricketer, despite the growing popularity of T20 cricket in the world.
The wicketkeeper/batsman is currently leading Deccan Chargers in the fifth edition of the Indian Premier League (IPL). His team has been a massive disappointment this year and is already out of contention to qualify for the last four teams of the tournament.
Since the inception of T20 cricket in the previous decade, it has gained immense popularity all around the world and with the passage of time; cricket is getting faster and faster.
The hard-hitting batsmen are usually considered more valuable in the shortest format of the game but Sangakkara holds that opinion that if a batsman possesses a solid technique, he can be effective in all the three formats of the game.
Deccan’s skipper gave the example of http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Rajasthan-c837 Royals’ Ajinkya Rahane, who is not known for hitting the ball hard, but is among the leading run-scorers of the tournament, with 463 runs in 12 matches.
“Look at someone like http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Ajinkya-Rahane-c970, he is a brilliant example of a combination of good cricket strokes, solid technique and still amazingly successful in T20 cricket. Sometimes, you get carried away by players who hit the ball extremely hard,” he said.
Sangakkara agrees that IPL provides a massive opportunity to the local players to make a name for themselves but the former Sri Lankan captain wants the cricket officials in India to make sure that the players give more importance to the longer version of
the sport.
“Coaches and teams in http://www.senore.com/Cricket/India-c750 have a great responsibility to remind their players that in order to remembered as good cricketers, one has to perform in Test cricket and not the other way round. Who knows how long everything lasts, so for anyone worth their
salt should aspire to play Test cricket,” Sangakkara concluded.
The left-hander himself is considered to be one of the most effective Test batsmen in the present-day cricket. A number of former cricketers all around the world also believe that Test cricket should remain the pinnacle of the sport at any cost.
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