Kumar Sangakkara is a retired Sri Lankan cricketer and a former captain of the Sri Lanka national cricket team. He is a left-handed top-order batsman and plays as the wicket-keeper in One Day International (ODI) format of the game. Described by the English cricket writer Peter Roebuck as "among the most polished and prudent of batsmen", Sangakkara has made centuries (100 or more runs in a single innings) on 38 and 25 occasions in Test and ODI matches respectively. He has at times been top of the International Cricket Council (ICC) rankings for Test batsmen. His awards include ODI Cricketer of the Year, captain of the ICC World XI Test team, and the 2011 ICC People's Choice Award (all at the 2011 ICC Awards), and being named one of the Wisden Cricketers of the Year in 2012.
Sangakkara made his Test debut against South Africa in July 2000. He scored his maiden Test century in 2001, against India, and his first double-century during the 2002 Asian Test Championship final against Pakistan. Sangakkara's highest score in Test cricket is 319, which he scored against Bangladesh in 2014. During his innings of 287 against South Africa in 2006, he and Mahela Jayawardene set a new world record of 624 runs for the highest partnership for any wicket in Test or first-class cricket. In the following year, he scored back-to-back double-centuries against Bangladesh, the fifth instance of successive double-centuries in Test cricket. He has scored 200 or more runs in a Test match on eleven occasions, surpassing Brian Lara, who has scored 200 or more runs in a Test match on nine occasions; only Donald Bradman (12 double-centuries) has done so more often. He became the ninth batsman and second Sri Lankan to score centuries against all Test-playing nations in December 2007, when he scored 152 against England. He was appointed captain of the Sri Lanka team in March 2009, following the resignation of Mahela Jayawardene, and the first of his seven Test centuries as captain came against Pakistan in July of the same year. Sangakkara has the second-highest batting average—69.60 per innings—for a captain who scored a minimum of 1,500 runs.
He made his ODI debut in July 2000 against Pakistan, and his first century in this format was against the same team during the 2003 Cherry Blossom Sharjah Cup. The start of his ODI career was "fairly ordinary", according to one cricket journalist, as he only scored two centuries in four years. His highest score of 169 was made at the R. Premadasa Stadium, Colombo, against South Africa, during South African cricket team in Sri Lanka in 2013. Sangakkara's only ODI century as captain was scored against New Zealand in a group stage match in the 2011 ICC World Cup. In the sixth match of the 2011–12 Commonwealth Bank Series, Sangakkara became the third and fastest Sri Lanka batsman to reach 10,000 ODI runs. He played 56 Twenty20 International matches (T20Is) between 2006 and 2014; his highest score in the format is 78.
Key Symbol Meaning * Remained not out Player of the match Captained the Sri Lanka teamTest The number of the Test match played in that seriesPos. Position in the batting orderInn. The innings of the matchS.R. Strike rate during the inningsH/A/N Venue was at home (Sri Lanka), away or neutralLost The match was lost by Sri Lanka Won The match was won by Sri Lanka Drawn The match was drawn
Test match centuries
No.ScoreAgainstPos.Inn.TestVenueH/A/NDateResult Ref 1 105* 3 2 1/3 Galle International Stadium, Galle Home Won 2 140 3 2 1/3 Galle International Stadium, Galle Home Won 3 128 3 1 1/3 Sinhalese Sports Club Ground, Colombo Home Won 4 230 3 2 3/3 Gaddafi Stadium, Lahore Away Won 5 270 3 2 2/3 Queens Sports Club, Bulawayo Away Won 6 232 3 1 2/3 Sinhalese Sports Club Ground, Colombo Home Won 7 138 3 3 2/2 National Stadium, Karachi Away Lost 8 157* 3 3 2/2 Asgiriya Stadium, Kandy Home Won 9 185 3 3 1/2 Sinhalese Sports Club Ground, Colombo Home Drawn 10 287 3 2 1/2 Sinhalese Sports Club Ground, Colombo Home Won 11 100* 3 3 1/2 Lancaster Park, Christchurch Away Lost 12 156* 3 1 2/2 Basin Reserve, Wellington Away Won 13 200* 3 2 2/3 Paikiasothy Saravanamuttu Stadium, Colombo Home Won 14 222* 3 2 3/3 Asgiriya Stadium, Kandy Home Won 15 192 3 4 2/2 Bellerive Oval, Hobart Away Lost 16 152 3 3 1/3 Asgiriya Stadium, Kandy Home Won 17 144 4 2 3/3 Paikiasothy Saravanamuttu Stadium, Colombo Home Won 18 104 3 1 2/2 Gaddafi Stadium, Lahore Away Drawn 19 130* 3 4 3/3 Sinhalese Sports Club Ground, Colombo Home Drawn 20 109 3 3 2/2 Sinhalese Sports Club Ground, Colombo Home Won 21 137 3 3 3/3 Brabourne Stadium, Mumbai Away Lost 22 103 3 1 1/3 Galle International Stadium, Galle Home Won 23 219 3 1 2/3 Sinhalese Sports Club Ground, Colombo Home Drawn 24 150 3 1 2/3 R. Premadasa Stadium, Colombo Home Drawn 25 119 3 3 3/3 Rose Bowl, Southampton Away Drawn 26 211 3 3 1/3 Sheikh Zayed Stadium, Abu Dhabi Neutral Drawn 27 144 3 1 3/3 Sharjah Cricket Association Stadium, Sharjah Neutral Drawn 28 108 3 3 2/3 Kingsmead Cricket Ground, Durban Away Won 29 199* 3 1 1/3 Galle International Stadium, Galle Home Won 30 192 3 2 2/3 Sinhalese Sports Club Ground, Colombo Home Drawn 31 142 3 1 1/2 Galle International Stadium, Galle Home Drawn 32 105 3 3 1/2 Galle International Stadium, Galle Home Drawn 33 139 3 2 2/2 R. Premadasa Stadium, Colombo Home Won 34 319 3 1 2/2 Zohur Ahmed Chowdhury Stadium, Chittagong Away Drawn 35 105 3 3 2/2 Zohur Ahmed Chowdhury Stadium, Chittagong Away Drawn 36 147 3 2 1/2 Lord's, London Away Drawn 37 221 3 2 1/2 Galle International Stadium, Galle Home Won 38 203 3 2 2/2 Basin Reserve, Wellington Away Lost
One Day International centuries No.ScoreAgainstPos.Inn. SRVenueH/A/NDateResult Ref 1 100* 4 1 90.09 Sharjah Cricket Association Stadium, Sharjah Neutral Lost 2 103* 4 1 95.37 Sharjah Cricket Association Stadium, Sharjah Neutral Won 3 101 3 2 91.81 R. Premadasa Stadium, Colombo Home Lost 4 138* 1 1 93.87 Sawai Mansingh Stadium, Jaipur Away Lost 5 109 3 1 87.20 Zohur Ahmed Chowdhury Stadium, Chittagong Away Won 6 110 4 1 86.61 Madhavrao Scindia Cricket Ground, Rajkot Away Won 7 128 3 1 82.58 Adelaide Oval, Adelaide Neutral Lost 8 101 2 1 110.98 Gaddafi Stadium, Lahore Neutral Won 9 112 2 1 101.81 National Stadium, Karachi Away Won 10 121 2 1 94.53 National Stadium, Karachi Neutral Won 11 111 3 1 86.71 Wankhede Stadium, Mumbai Neutral Won 12 102 3 2 105.15 Wanderers Stadium, Johannesburg Away Won 13 105 3 1 120.68 Bellerive Oval, Hobart Neutral Lost 14 133 3 2 88.07 Mahinda Rajapaksa International Stadium, Hambantota Home Lost 15 134* 3 2 99.25 The Oval, London Away Won 16 169 3 1 123.35 R. Premadasa Stadium, Colombo Home Won 17 128 3 1 111.30 Sher-e-Bangla National Cricket Stadium, Dhaka Away Won 18 103 3 2 122.61 Khan Shaheb Osman Ali Stadium, Fatullah Neutral Won 19 112 3 1 107.69 Lord's, London Away Won 20 112 3 1 100.00 Pallekele International Cricket Stadium, Pallekele Home Won 21 113* 3 1 107.61 Westpac Stadium, Wellington Away Won 22 105* 3 1 138.15 Melbourne Cricket Ground, Melbourne Neutral Won 23 117* 3 2 136.04 Westpac Stadium, Wellington Neutral Won 24 104 3 2 97.19 Sydney Cricket Ground, Sydney Away Lost 25 124 3 1 130.52 Bellerive Oval, Hobart Neutral Won
Notes
References
General
Specific
External links
Interview with Sangakkara