DHAKA: Former skipper Kumar Sangakkara yesterday said he was relieved to realise one of his career dreams: to win a World Cup trophy after five attempts.
The victory broke Sri Lanka’s jinx of losing the final of major world level events as they had lost two World Cup (50 overs) finals (2007 and 2011) besides being runners-up in as many World Twenty20 events in 2009 and 2012
“It’s been a long time coming, (we’ve) waited five finals,” said Sangakkara, who was captain in the 2009 World Twenty20 and 2011 World Cup, but will now quit Twenty20 along with Mahela Jayawardene. “I am pretty happy that I was able to do something for the team. It means a lot to all of us. We are very humbled by this.”
India won the inaugural edition in 2007 followed by Pakistan (2009), England (2010) and the West Indies (2012).
In contrast India were denied a chance to become the first team ever to hold three major cricketing titles at one time, after clinching the 2011 World Cup title and the Champions Trophy last year.
India captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni was full of praise for Sri Lanka. “It was a perfect game for them,” he said. “In the middle overs our batsmen tried our best, but we couldn’t convert the good start.
“We were short of a few runs but Virat has been brilliant,” said Dhoni of Kohli, declared player of the tournament. AGENCIES
