Sangakkara and his teammates Amit Mishra and Manpreet Gony, coach Darenn Lehmann and fielding coach Trevor Penny spent an hour interacting with young cricketers of the city at the Gymkhana, on Thursday.
"As international cricketers, it is our responsibility to help nurture talent. These kids are the future and hence getting time to spend with them is a great feeling. Some of the kids are very talented. The time was short but I really enjoyed being here," the 34-year-old said.
"I never played cricket at this age. I started playing around 12 so it feels great to spend time with such young players. They are really fortunate to be able to get to know the basics of the game at such an early age," Sangakkara, whose father is Tamil and mother Sinhalese, said.
"To be honest, I don't know how it feels to be playing cricket at such a young age. I am sure it must be a great feeling for them," he added.
However, the Sri Lankan said it was important not to put too much pressure on the kids. "It is very important that the kids have fun out there. They should not be taught too much so soon.
"It should be slowly evolved. The right thing to do is to help them enjoy the game and have fun. They will learn as they grow up," the wicket-keeper batsman added.
"It is important that the kids learn to play their natural game and too much of tampering with their temperament shouldn't be done. I think it is very important to speak to the right people about the game because I found that having too many coaches could be detrimental to one's game.
"Sometimes the coaches give contradictory instructions and cause a lot of confusion in the minds of the players," Sangakkara said.
On wicket-keeping, he said: "The body position is very important. Sometimes these may look like very little things but they make all the difference between an average keeper and a good one. It is important to keep the head steady and watch the ball at all times. All other things will follow."
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