Kumar Sangakkara

Kumar Sangakkara
Personal information
Full name	Kumar Chokshanada Sangakkara
Batting	Left-handed
Bowling	Right arm off spin
Role	Wicket-keeper
International information
National side	Sri Lanka;
Test debut (cap 84)	20 July 2000 v South Africa
Last Test	3 April 2008 v West Indies
ODI debut (cap 105)	5 July 2000 v Pakistan
Last ODI	12 April 2008 v West Indies
ODI shirt no.	11
Domestic team information
1997 – present	Nondescripts
2007	Warwickshire
Career statistics
	Source: [1], 12 April 2008

Kumar Chokshanada Sangakkara (born 27 October 1977 at Matale) is a Sri Lankan cricketer. He is a left-handed batsman and a wicket-keeper. Sangakkara got his education at Trinity College, Kandy. Sangakkara started his career as a batmsan but subsequently became a wicket-keeper also. His keeping has developed to such an extent that he was once considered, by the LG ICC Test ratings, the best wicket-keeping batsman in the world. In 2006 however he gave the gloves to Prasanna Jayawardene in Tests and has since played as a specialist batsman. He remains Sri Lanka's wicket-keeper in One-Day International cricket.

Sangakkara likes to hit the ball square of the wicket on the off-side and once making a century he more often than not passes 150 in Test cricket. On the 6 December 2007 he was named as the new Number 1 batsman in the LG ICC Test player rankings with a rating of 938, the highest rating ever achieved by a Sri Lankan player, and became the first batsman ever to score in excess of 150 in four consecutive tests.^[1] His skill was recognized worldwide when he earned selection for the ICC World XI One Day team that competed against Australia in the Johnnie Walker Series in October 2005. Despite the World XI losing all of the one-day games considerably, Sangakkara succeeded in leaving the series some credit, averaging 46. He plays his domestic cricket for Nondescripts in Sri Lanka and played English county cricket with Warwickshire during 2007. He is billed as a future captain of Sri Lanka.^{[citation needed]} On Sri Lanka's tour to England in May 2006, he was named the vice-captain of the side.

Career highlights

In July 2006, he scored his highest Test score of 287 against South Africa and shared a record-breaking partnership of 624 with Mahela Jayawardene. This is a world record in both Test and first class cricket, and was the first case of a partnership of 600 or more in a first-class or Test match innings. The previous Test record was also held by a Sri Lankan pair - Sanath Jayasuriya and Roshan Mahanama, who put on 576 against India at Colombo in August 1997. Sangakkara has scored four other double centuries in Test cricket, and only one of his nine completed centuries has been less than 138, indicating that Sangakkara has good concentration levels even after he reaches a century.

In 2007 he joined the elite club of Test Batsmen who have scored five or more double centuries. Smashing unbeaten consecutive scores of 200 and 222 in the second and third Tests against Bangladesh, Sangakkara became the sixth man in history to score back-to-back double centuries, putting him in the elite company of Sir Don Bradman and Wally Hammond.

On 4 December 2007, Sangakarra became the first batsman to ever to make single innings scores in excess of a 150 or more in four consecutive test matches.

Sangakkara also has seven ODI centuries to his name, including one against Australia in Colombo in 2004. Coincidentally, it was also his 100th One-Day International match.

Personal life

Sangakkara was born to Kumari and Chokshanada Sangakkara at Matale in 1977. Sangakkara is a product of the Trinity College, Kandy and was the ryde medalist of his year.^[2] He showed talents in both cricket and tennis at school, and it was the Principal, Mr. Leonard De Alwis who advised his mother to encourage him to pursue cricket.^[2]

He is the youngest of four siblings and has a brother and two sisters one of whom is a sportswoman herself - a keen Tennis player. Sangakkara is married to his longtime sweetheart, Yehali [2] and is currently a law undergraduate, going in the footsteps of his father, who is also a leading lawyer in Kandy. He is multilingual, been able to speak in Sinhalese,Tamil and English he is from Sri Lanka and is often seen as the unofficial spokesman of the cricket team. Sangakkara is ambidextrous.

Player Statistics

Career performance

Centuries

The following table illustrates a summary of the Test centuries scored by Kumar Sangakkara.

In the column Runs, * indicates being not out
The column title Match refers to the Match Number of the player's career

Test Centuries of Kumar Sangakkara
	Runs	Match	Against	City/Country	Venue	Year
[1]	105*	10	India	Galle, Sri Lanka	Galle International Stadium	2001
[2]	140	14	West Indies	Galle, Sri Lanka	Galle International Stadium	2001
[3]	128	17	Zimbabwe	Colombo, Sri Lanka	Sinhalese Sports Club Ground	2002
[4]	230	20	Pakistan	Lahore, Pakistan	Gaddafi Stadium	2002
[5]	270	38	Zimbabwe	Bulawayo, Zimbabwe	Queens Sports Club	2004
[6]	232	42	South Africa	Colombo, Sri Lanka	Sinhalese Sports Club Ground	2004
[7]	138	44	Pakistan	Karachi, Pakistan	National Stadium	2004
[8]	157	48	West Indies	Kandy, Sri Lanka	Asgiriya Stadium	2005
[9]	185	56	Pakistan	Colombo, Sri Lanka	Sinhalese Sports Club Ground	2006
[10]	287	61	South Africa	Colombo, Sri Lanka	Sinhalese Sports Club Ground	2006
[11]	100*	63	New Zealand	Christchurch, New Zealand	Jade Stadium	2006
[12]	156*	64	New Zealand	Wellington, New Zealand	Basin Reserve	2006
[13]	200*	66	Bangladesh	Colombo, Sri Lanka	P. Saravanamuttu Stadium	2007
[14]	222*	67	Bangladesh	Kandy, Sri Lanka	Asgiriya Stadium	2007
[15]	192	68	Australia	Hobart, Australia	Bellerive Oval	2007
[16]	152	69	England	Kandy, Sri Lanka	Asgiriya Stadium	2007

ODI Centuries of Kumar Sangakkara
	Runs	Match	Against	City/Country	Venue	Year
[1]	100*	86	Pakistan	Sharjah, UAE	Sharjah C.A. Stadium	2003
[2]	103*	87	Kenya	Sharjah, UAE	Sharjah C.A. Stadium	2003
[3]	101	100	Australia	Colombo, Sri Lanka	R. Premadasa Stadium	2004
[4]	138*	141	India	Jaipur, India	Sawai Mansingh Stadium	2005
[5]	109	163	Bangladesh	Chittagong, Bangladesh	Chittagong Divisional Stadium	2006
[6]	110	183	India	Rajkot, India	Madhavrao Scindia Cricket Ground	2007
[7]	128	213	India	Adelaide, Australia	Adelaide Oval	2008

Awards

Test Cricket

Man of the Match Awards

#	Match	Season	Match Performance	Result
1	1st Test - Zimbabwe in Sri Lanka Test Series	2001/02	1st Innings - 128(4x22, 6x1) 2nd Innings - 3 Catches	Won by an innings and 166 runs
2	Final - Asian Test Championship	2001/02	1st Innings - 230(4x33, 6x3); 5 Catches, 1 Stumping 2nd Innings - 14*(4x1)	Won the Asian Test Championship by 8 wickets
3	2nd Test - Sri Lanka in Zimbabwe	2004	1st Innings - 270(4x36, 6x2); 1 Catch	Won by an innings and 254 runs
4	2nd Test - South Africa in Sri Lanka	2004	1st Innings - 232(4x31, 6x1); 1 Catch 2nd Innings - 64(4x10, 6x1)	Won by 313 runs
5	2nd Test - West Indies in Sri Lanka	2005	1st Innings - 6(4x1) 2nd Innings - 157(4x24)	Won by 240 runs
6	1st Test - Pakistan in Sri Lanka	2006	1st Innings - 8(4x1); 2 Catches 2nd Innings - 185(4x22)	Drawn
7	2nd Test - Bangladesh in Sri Lanka	2007	1st Innings - 200*(4x20, 6x2)	Won by an innings and 90 runs
8	1st Test - England in Sri Lanka	2007/08	1st Innings - 92 (4x13) 2nd Innings - 152 (4x19); 1 catch	Won by 88 runs

One-Day International Cricket

Man of the Series Awards

#	Series	Season	Series Performance	Result
1	Cherry Blossom Sharjah Cup(Ken, Pak, SL, Zim) in UAE	2002/03	228(3 Matches); 100x2	Won Cherry Blossom Sharjah Cup by 8 wickets
2	South Africa in Sri Lanka	2004	247(5 Matches); 50x3, 5 Catches, 5 Stumpings	Won the series 5-0
3	Sri Lanka in Bangladesh	2005/06	182(3 Matches); 100x1, 50x1, 5 Catches	Won the series 2-1