The Indian liberal establishment has found a new hero in Kumar Sangakkara. For his now-famous Cowdrey lecture at the MCC on the ‘Spirit of Cricket’ is not just about remedying corruption and decay in cricket (and by extension, in modern sports), but also crucially a rumination on pluralism and integration in postcolonial societies like Sri Lanka. In his speech he had referred to the1983 July riots, the JVP-led insurgency, LTTE terrorism and the heavy price paid by the military to defeat the LTTE. The Sri Lankan Defence Secretary, Gotabhaya Rajapaksa, had a word of praise for Sangakkara for solidly backing the country’s successful war effort against the LTTE, at a time when a section of the international community is seeking accountability from the Sri Lankan military establishment for its questionable practices during the last few decades.
The speech has also stirred the reformer-liberals of New India, who are not only enthralled by Sangakkara’s refined, rhetorical eloquence but also by his civic, character-building arguments. Mukul Kesavan calls Sangakkara’s first-person-narrative at once a cricketer’s prescription and a citizen’s creed. V. Anantha Nageswaran finds in the speech the unfolding of a triad of competence, integrity and conscience, a ‘lesson’ for our political-reformers. Others rave about how his outstanding legal mind subtly seeks administrative transparency and good governance.
