Sangakkara's recipe to beat India :

Play the ball and not the individual

by Sa'adi Thawfeeq

Sri Lanka's cricket tour to India this week is not going to be a walk in the park, but far from it. For any country beating India in India has been the ultimate goal and Sri Lanka are no exception when they undertake a tour there in two stages - firstly for seven one-day internationals and then for three Test matches.

Kumar Sangakkara who forms an integral part of the Sri Lanka team that leaves for India tomorrow is of the opinion that if you negate the negative aspect, there is every chance of them beating India.

"Our goal I believe is to go out there and from day one to make sure that everyone means business. We should go there expecting to win every game," said Sangakkara who has become the foremost batsman in a side that boasts of some of the most exciting stroke players in the world.

"When you go to a country like India you must have that in mind and make it work for you rather than psychologically say that it is a difficult task. You have to make it a challenge so that it works in your favour," Sangakkara continued.

"Australia did it last year very convincingly. I think challenges like that are there to be taken and won.

The approach of the team mentally both on and off the field should be to concentrate and focus on beating India in India." Sangakkara said that over the past two to three years there has been fierce competition in the South Asian region amongst Pakistan, India and Sri Lanka for supremacy and that Sri Lanka had come out ahead in most encounters.

"This tour is another test for us. It is another challenge when you go to a country which has a very proud cricketing history and a very strong cricket team at the moment," said Sangakkara who turns 28 on October 27.

"We have been playing well in the past year. Our team has been jelling well and we've got some classic performances. It is just being more consistent on the base that we've got to get right now. We just have to make sure that we treat it as another game. Play the ball and not the individual and play to win," he said.

Steady progress

Reflecting back from the time he came into the Sri Lanka side in 2000 against South Africa at Galle, Sangakkara has seen the steady progress the Sri Lanka team has made in the past five years.

"Team wise we saw the captaincy go from Sanath (Jayasuriya) to Hashan (Tillakaratne) and now to Marvan (Atapattu). Each team under those captains have performed in different ways, but the trend has always been improvement, to get stronger," said Sangakkara. "We've had great performances and bad performances. But if you take our performances over the past five years there has been a steady up and climb in consistency in the win factor.

That is what every team looks for. Our goal should now be to peak at the right time for every tour," he said.

From a personal point of view Sangakkara said his game had undergone quite a lot of changes in his batting as well as his wicket-keeping. "As a wicket-keeper it's just been hard work.

People say that 'keepers are born and not made, but I don't agree with that. Whatever you want to do you work hard and if you do the basics right and keep repeating your perfect practice sessions day in day out, you can improve," said Sangakkara.

Practice makes perfect

"One of the things that I've set for myself is to work hard in all aspects of the game, see where and how I can improve. It has been great because I've had a lot of support from the team, the management staff and the coaches.

I haven't radically changed anything. It is just that I have streamlined my technique in all forms of the game. The practice drills that i have set for myself in batting and 'keeping.

That's how I have seen my game change and improve over the past five years," he said.

With a Test average of 48 from 50 Tests and a one-day average of 33, Sangakkara stands among the best of contemporary batsmen in the game today.

"My approach to batting is to make sure that I keep it simple. I want to know what I am doing with myself and what my batting is like when i go out there to bat. I have a lot of feedback from the coach, the players and video analysis. When I see myself batting on screen I see more things than when I am batting out in the middle. i work a lot on balance and watching the ball. There is no great secret to it, just the basics," said Sangakkara.

Sangakkara's goal as a batsman is to score as many hundreds as he could. "It is great to get a fifty but the final benchmark is hundred and beyond. My target is to be more consistent to score as many runs as I can for the side and enjoy my cricket and see how far I can go," he said.

Being selected to play for a World XI in the Super one-day series against Australia, Sangakkara considered it as "a sort of recognition that you have achieved something in your cricketing career."

"You have been recognised as a player who can perform with the best in the world against the best team in the world. You have been picked on proven track record and performance," said Sangakkara.

"But on the other hand players like Chaminda Vaas, Marvan Atapattu, Sanath Jayasuriya, Mahela Jayawardene have missed out from our team in getting that place. You take their records, they have been exceptional. They belong with the best, but unfortunately selection is like the luck of the draw. You never know."

Sangakkara said that from a personal point of view it was a great experience for him to share the dressing room with so many world class players whom he had admired and watched, but expressed his disappointment at being overlooked for the World Super Test team. "You pride yourself on your performance. It was a disappointment not to be selected," he said.