Kumar Sangakkara's, who scored 192 in the second Test against Australia in Hobart, has received rave reviews, not only for the manner in which it was scored his runs, but the way he took umpire Rudi Koertzen's decision to rule him out when replays showed that the ball had missed his bat and come off his shoulder.
Peter Roebuck, writing in the Sydney Morning Herald, felt Sangakkara's dismissal could not "erase the memory of the wonderful innings".
Sangakkara was superb. While Sanath Jayasuriya was contentedly clubbing the ball around the ground, he was able to advance at his own pace. In the early hours of his resistance he played a stream of sweetly timed strokes, placements through cover, glides off his pads and assaults on misdirected spinners. When necessary he defended alertly, eye on the ball, biding his time.
The Australian's Michael Davis lauded Sangakkara's sportsmanship.
Kumar Sangakkara proved himself a true champion by shaking hands with South African Rudi Koertzen after the game despite a woeful decision by the umpire that cost the Sri Lankan the chance of making a historic double-century.
Too many times the sporting headlines are filled with elite sportspeople's misdemeanors.
It seems it's more palatable to expose the flaws rather than highlight the grace.
Today at Bellerive Oval, Sri Lanka's Kumar Sangakkara embodied what we want to see from our sports champions, and he deserves to be heralded for his batting brilliance and his extreme grace.
