Kumar Sangakkara discloses reason behind famous smile after MS Dhoni's WC 2011 final six

India beat Sri Lanka in the final of the 2011 Cricket World Cup to lift the coveted trophy after a long wait of 28 years. MS Dhoni finished the game off in style as he hit Nuwan Kulasekara for a six to fetch the winning runs. The stadium was filled with contrasting emotions as soon as MS Dhoni hit the winning shot. The entire stadium, as well as, the Indian team were sent into jubilation while the Sri Lankan camp stooped in misery.  

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Kumar Sangakkara reflects back upon his smile after loss in 2011 World Cup

However, one thing that was as iconic as MS Dhoni's winning six was Sri Lanka skipper Kumar Sangakkara's gracious smile after the loss. The television cameras panned on Kumar Sangakkara wearing a gentle smile as he watched Yuvraj Singh embrace MS Dhoni after the winning runs were hit. Recently, Kumar Sangakkara recalled the iconic smile that he donned after the World Cup 2011.

Kumar Sangakkara was in conversation with R Ashwin on his series Reminisce with Ash on Instagram. He claimed that while living in Sri Lanka, there are lots of things that tend to bring people down and to worry about due to the standard of living and the history of the nation. Kumar Sangakkara further said that for 30 years they have had wars, natural disasters in 2005 and so many different issues but one of the greatest things about Sri Lankans is resilience. He added that resilience comes naturally to them and when they play, they want to win, making them extremely competitive.

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Kumar Sangakkara opined that whether they win or lose, they have an equilibrium on how to take a win or loss. He revealed that the smile had hidden a huge amount of sadness, disappointment towards thinking of 20 million people back in Sri Lanka who had been waiting for that moment for so long, since 1996. Sangakkara also pointed out that they had an opportunity to win the ODI World Cup in 2007 and 2011, then the T20 World Cup in 2009 and 2012 but they could not.

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Kumar Sangakkara concluded that sometimes, the best way to take victory or defeat is to understand that that's the way life is. Not every single thing goes your way. But the important thing is to be able to take that the same way. No extreme highs or no extreme lows with emotions. A lot of Sri Lankan cricketers tend to play with this spirit, according to Sangakkara, who did have the pleasure of being a World Cup winner, after the team's 2014 World T20 triumph in Bangladesh by ironically defeating MS Dhoni's India in the final.

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IMAGE COURTESY: TWITTER/18PRAJAKTA