Russel Arnold Opens Up About The Initial Years Of Kumar Sangakkara

Kumar Sangakkara, former Sri Lankan captain and the current head of the MCC, is one of the greatest-ever batsman that the island nation has ever produced.

Apart from scoring truckloads of runs across all formats of the game, one of the defining features of Kumar Sangakkara’s innings was his elegance in his strokeplay and also his footwork.

Russel Arnold, former Sri Lankan all-rounder-turned commentator, recently revealed the reason behind Sangakkara’s footwork vibrant footwork during an interaction with sports journalist Arun Venugopal on ‘Homerun with AV’

“It’s true (Sangakkara and Arnold attending dance class). This happened when we were youngsters in Colombo and I was captain of the under-23 side. That was the year Kumar Sangakkara relocated to Colombo from Kandy. He did his schooling in Kandy and in school cricket his performances weren’t that great. It was only when he was 22-23, after he had started playing club cricket that his talent shone bright and he reached a different level,” Russel Arnold said.

“Along with a few other players and their girlfriends, Sangakkara and I would attend dance classes. Our club NCC (Nondescripts Cricket Club) is located near the SSC Stadium, and the dance class was situated in the same locality. Ball-room dancing, Jazz, and the likes were taught there. After we finished our practice and fitness sessions at around 6.30 pm, we would go to the class at around 7 pm,” he added.

“A few sessions later I opted out after discovering that my rhythm was totally out of sync and my dance flopped big time! However, Sangakkara and his then-girlfriend and now-wife (Yehali) continued to take dance lessons,” revealed Arnold.

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Kumar Sangakkara didn’t have that kind [of sledging] of a personality during his junior-cricket days: Russel Arnold

Sangakkara, like his other fellow wicketkeeper, did like to have a few words with the batsman during his playing days. When asked about whether used to needle the opposition players during his earlier days, Russel revealed that the former captain did not have that kind of personality during his childhood days. It came only after he started playing at the international level.

“Sangakkara didn’t have that kind of a personality during his junior-cricket days. That happened only when he started playing at the international level. He was always confident, but he bloomed slightly late. In contrast, right from the under-14, under-15 stage, Mahela Jayawardena was identified as a future cricketer for Sri Lanka just from the way he played. But Sangakkara was barely known during his junior cricketing days.

“It was former international umpire Ashoka de Silva who told me that a boy from Kandy (Sangakkara) would join the NCC (Nondescripts Cricket Club). He asked me to look after him as I was the captain.

“Sangakkara came up and spoke with me. He seemed like a quiet, simple guy for the first year or so. Then, there was an A tour which propelled his career to a different level. In a flick of the finger, he matured into a superb player. Sangakkara went on to score his maiden first-class hundred in Test cricket, not in club cricket,” he said.

Also Read: Russel Arnold Names ‘Motor-Mouth’ Muttiah Muralitharan As The Most Annoying Sri Lankan Player He Played With