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Message: <blockquote data-quote="BarakOsama" data-source="post: 18069249" data-attributes="member: 204443"><img src="http://static.sportskeeda.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/03/san-1426740203.jpg" alt="" class="fr-fic fr-dii fr-draggable " style="" />Dear Mahela and Sanga, The  thing about greatness is that it is often overestimated. And sport has  this tendency of conferring greatness on a player who is just  consistently “good”.  In the past two years, the cricketing world  has bid farewell to some great cricketers – Jacques Kallis, Michael  Hussey, Graeme Smith and of course Sachin Tendulkar. And now, you both  have joined that list. When it comes to being great, there is no doubt  that you both fit in perfectly. For a long part of your  respective careers, you have been unfancied competitors. You have  quietly gone about your business scoring hundreds, double hundreds,  keeping wickets, breaking records, captaining sides and winning games. It  has not been easy playing at a time when the Australians were  dominating world cricket or when the Indians began asserting themselves  on the big stage. For a large part of your careers, you have relatively  been unknown in comparison to some other stalwarts. When it comes to  legends, Sri Lankan cricket often seems to remember Murali or  Jayasuriya. But it would be criminal to label you anything less than legends.  We know  that for a long time, Sri Lankan cricket has been in absolute turmoil.  False promises, unpaid wages and dirty politics; these terms pretty  aptly describe what your board has been doing for some time (trust me,  apart from the unpaid wages part, the BCCI has been doing the same for a  long time). Ignoring all this kippage, you went on doing your job like a  thorough professionals, and that is admirable. Here in India, <a href="http://www.sportskeeda.com/player/sachin-tendulkar/" target="_blank">we adore Sachin Tendulkar and rightly</a>  so. I grew up watching him and the likes of Sourav Ganguly, Rahul  Dravid, Anil Kumble and VVS Laxman play. They were astonishing, and I  became attached to them. They serve as great reference points in our  lives. But somewhere down the line, I became attached to both of  you as well. And that is not just because of your cover-drives or  pull-shots or late cuts. There is a certain charisma about you  both which cricket lovers have for long failed to see. You both  grew up in a strife torn country. We may try to imagine what that must  be like, but we just can’t realize the import of it fully. Bullets,  grenades, dead people and all things violent – that was your country  when you grew up. But as they say, what doesn’t kill you makes you  stronger. You guys were a part of a team which lost four ICC  tournament finals in a span of five years. Everytime you made it to the  final, I was sure you were going to win it. But that just did not  happen. I have from a young age believed in God (not so much in  religion) and after every final you lost, I felt that the one  above there had been cruel. There is no denying that he hasn’t  been so. I can think of so many players from the 2011 Indian World Cup  winning squad who should never have lifted that trophy. But they did,  and that is an evidence of God’s cruelty. Defeats in finals never  deterred you; you kept coming back. Personally for me, it was a matter  of great joy and relief to see you lift the Asia Cup and then the World  T20 trophy. I don’t know when and how, but my loyalties had shifted to  your side. Coming into the 2015 World Cup, I was hoping Sri Lanka  could win the tournament and in the process give you the perfect  farewell. Sri Lanka weren't the favourites heading into the tournament  and the quarterfinal display clearly depicts that. I was hoping  for a fairytale ending to your careers but that didn’t happen. The  quarterfinal match marks the beginning of the end for you both.  I wouldn’t like to end by saying goodbye because, as J.M. Barrie puts it, “Never say goodbye because goodbye means going away and going away means forgetting.”   Thank you for the memories. Regards, An Indian fan<a href="http://www.sportskeeda.com/cricket/a-farewell-letter-to-mahlea-jayawardene-and-kumar-sangakkara?ref=sr" target="_blank">Source</a> </blockquote>

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