Kumar Sangakkara is arguably the greatest Sri Lankan batter to ever play the sport of cricket in Sri Lanka and his records and stats show it all. He has been the pillar of the batting along with his partner Mahela Jayawardene and they have served Sri Lankan cricket proudly for so many years. He is someone who is also widely respected around the world and he is most certainly the best left handed batter of the last 25 years and that says a lot.
He has been a great captain for Sri Lanka and he led them to the final of the 2011 World Cup but they lost against the hosts India and he has also been a great Wicket-keeper for Sri Lanka so a true all round cricketer and what a brilliant job he did for so many years. So , let’s look at the profile stats and records of this incredible cricketer.
Profile
Personal Information
The full name of Kumar Sangakkara is Kumar Chokshanada Sangakkara and he was born on 27th October 1977 in Matale in Sri Lanka and he also from a very young age got interested in cricket and he was a child prodigy and was a special talent not just in batting but he was also a good Wicket-keeper so he was fast tracked based on his incredible talents. He is fondly called Sanga by his teammates and his colleagues and it carries on now as well. He was even taller than Mahela and this helped him get on top of the ball while playing shots and him being a left handed batter also played to his advantage. He also could bowl right arm off break spin if needed and after retirement he became the president of the MCC which is the governing body for cricket rules.
Also Read | Sanath Jayasuriya – The Pearl Who is the trendsetter of Whirlwind batting
International Information
He made his international debut for Sri Lanka in the year 2000 which was 3 years later than his compatriot Mahela Jayawardene and since then there was no stopping them for 15 years. Ne received his test cap and his first test was on 20th July 2000 against South Africa and after 15 years being at the top he finally played his last test match against India on 20th August 2015 thus ending a remarkable test career. He played his first ODI match against Pakistan on 5th July 2000 and on the same day that Mahela Jayawardene retired from ODIs, he also gave up his ODI career after having one of the best World Cup performances ever. Kumar Sangakkara also played a fair share of T20IS for Sri Lanka and his first match was on 15th June 2006 against England and after 8 years he played his last T20I match on 6th April 2014 against India.
Also Read | Greatest Sri Lankan Cricketers
Career Stats
Competition | Tests | ODIs | T20IS |
Matches | 134 | 404 | 56 |
Runs scored | 12,400 | 14,234 | 1382 |
Batting average | 57.40 | 41.98 | 31.40 |
100s/50s | 38/52 | 25/93 | 0/8 |
Top score | 319 | 169 | 78 |
Balls bowled | 84 | 0 | 0 |
Wickets | 0 | 0 | 0 |
Catches/ Stunpings | 182/20 | 402/99 | 25/20 |
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Records :
Tests
Sixth highest aggregate of runs (12,400) in 134 matches at an Average of 57.40
Second most double centuries in a career – Sunbaker has 11 double centuries in Tests, second only to 12 by Don Bradman
Fourth highest number of centuries – Sangakkara has 38 centuries in 134 matches
First player to score 150+ scores in four consecutive Test matches.
Fastest to 11,000 and 12,000 test runs – In 208 innings and 224 innings respectively
Most partnership runs – Kumara Sangakkara and Mahela Jayawardene scored 6554 runs together, which is the second highest by any partnership
Most career runs when batting at number 3 position in test history(11679)
ODIs
First Sri Lankan to pass 14,000 runs.
Most dismissals (includes wicket-keeping) – Sangakkara has taken (482 dismissals = 383 catches 99 stumpings in 404 matches
Most runs as wicketkeeper batsman in ODI history (13,262 runs) and the first wicketkeeper batsman to score over 10000 runs in One Day Internationals.
Also Read | Mahela Jayawardene – Profile, Stats and Records
