The Beginning
Kumar Sangakkara made his ODI debut at the age of 22 against Pakistan in the triangular series on July 5, 2000. He was picked up for the tournament on the back of a brilliant 156* for Sri Lanka A against Zimbabwe A in an unofficial ODI.
The First Fifty
The Longer Format
Sangakkara's ODI exploits earned him the Test cap on July 20, 2000 against South Africa in a three-match series. Although his highest scores in the series did not extend beyond 20s, he retained his place in the side.
The First Century
Sangakkara missed the century mark twice, getting out in the 90s, once against South Africa, then against England. However, he finally hit his first Test hundred against India when they toured the island nation in August 2001. His innings of 105 helped SL to a 10-wicket victory over the visitors.
The Double Century
Less than a year later in March 2002, Sangakkara scored a blistering 234 in the Asian Test Championship final against Pakistan. The mammoth innings came off 327 balls and Sri Lanka eventually won the game by 8 wickets.
First Taste Of ODI Sucess
Despite achieving consistent success in the longest format of the game, Kumar Sangakkara's first ODI ton came nearly three years after his debut in his 86th match. He smashed an unbeaten 100 in SL's score of 223 against Pakistan in Sharjah. Unfortunately that hundred came in losing cause as Pakistan easily chased the target with seven wickets to spare.
The First 250-Plus Score
Kumar Sangakkara along with Marvan Atapattu shared a massive 438 second-wicket stand against Zimbabwe in May 2004. Sangakkara ended up scoring 270, missing a triple hundred by just 30 runs. It was, however, his first 250-plus score.
Another Double To Boost
Sangakkara hit his second double ton in four months in August 2004 against South Africa. His score of 232 was the highest in Sri Lanka's first innings total of 470, a game that SL went on to win by 313 runs.
World Honours
In July 2005, Sangakkara was named in the ICC World XI ODI side for the Super Series. However, he failed to make it to the World XI Test team, despite having got.
Responsibility Beckons
When regular captain Marvan Atapattu was injured early 2006, Mahela Jayawardene was named as the captain of the Sri Lankan team with the vice-captaincy duties falling on Kumar Sangakkara for the series against Pakistan in March 2006. However, Atapattu failed to recover quickly and Sanga ended up filling the role of vice-captain on a full-time basis.
The Mega Stand
In July 2006, Kumar Sangakkara shared a huge 624-run stand, the highest in first-class cricket, with Mahela Jayawardene against a helpless South African side. Sanga scored 287 and was distraught falling just 13 short of what could have been an epic triple century.
Double Bonanza
In July 2007, Sangakkara became only the fifth player in Test history to hit successive double centuries. He smashed 200 not out and 222 not out against Bangladesh in a home series.
T20 Festival
Sangakkara was signed by the Kings XI Punjab in the Indian Premier League for US$700,000 in 2008. He subsequently went on to play for the Deccan Chargers and the SunRisers Hyderabad side.
The 2011 World Cup
Sangakkara proved to be a decent captain with his fair share of successes and losses. He led Sri Lanka into the final of the 2011 World Cup, which they lost. Sanga, however, scored in the excess of 450 runs. He later resigned from captaincy after the tournament.
The First Man Of The Series
Sangakkara was named the Man of the Series in Test series with Pakistan in 2011-12, his first such award. He accumulated 516 runs in three matches. However, Pakistan ended up winning the series 1-0.
First Triple Ton
Sangakkara hit his first triple ton and his highest Test score till date against Bangladesh in 2014. His score of 319 in the first innings of the second Test, made him only the third Sri Lankan after Sanath Jayasuria and Mahela Jayawardena to hit a triple hundred. He scored a gritty 105 runs in the second innings as the match ended in a draw.
One Last Time At Home
Sangakkara's final ODI innings on home soil was played on 13 December 2014 in the last match of England ODI series. He scored only 33 in that game but recieved a warm send-off from the crowd and his teammates.
World Cup Party
Sangakkara became the second highest run scorer in ODIs surpassing Ricky Ponting on February 14 2015. Twelve days later, he scored his 22nd ton in his 400th ODI appearance and shared two double century stands in the World Cup. He then smashed another hundred, his 23rd, off just 70 balls, the fastest by a Sri Lankan in World Cups. He also surpassed 14,000 ODI runs in the competition and then after hitting a century against Scotland became the first batsman in World Cup history to score 4 consecutive hundreds.
Congratulate Sangakkara on a glorious career:Tendulkar
Sri Lankan legend Kumar Sangakkara will hang his boots after a glorious career, in which he amassed 12,350 runs in 133 Tests over 15 years, when he plays his final game at the P Sara Oval from Thursday. It would be an emotional moment for the batsman and perhaps one man who can best understand the legend's present state of mind is Sachin Tendulkar, who quit the sport in 2013 after ruling the world of cricket for 24 years.
Tendulkar paid tributes to Sangakkara.
He's been a fantastic, world-class cricketer. It's been great to watch him grow as a cricketer. Towards the beginning of his career, he wasn't a big hitter of the ball. However, I feel that he really picked it up in the second half of his career, where he would change gears and attack at will. It was part of his growth as a cricketer, and that comes with experience.
Sangakkara exploited this experience beautifully. His consistency in this period was amazing. It was the sign of a world-class cricketer. Sangakkara had his own style of batting. Left-handers are generally good to watch, and so was he. Of course, as an opposition player, I naturally didn't enjoy watching him bat when he got going!
Sangakkara has had an accomplished career. He has been a role model for not just the Sri Lankans, but for cricketers across the world. Sangakkara was always a thorn in India's flesh, having scored 1302 runs in 16 Tests at an average of 54.25, with five hundreds and two fifties to boot. "It was great to play against him.
Whenever we played against Sri Lanka, he was the danger man we looked to get out. I thought him to be a dangerous batsman because he had a special ability: Even though he looked uncomfortable in the middle, he had this knack for scoring runs. The Indian maestro, whose records were threatened by Sangakkara for a while before he announced his retirement, felt that batsmen like him always enjoyed the pressure of being the main run-getter. The leading players of a side always relish that role.
I want to congratulate Sangakkara on a glorious career. I wish him all the success in whatever he chooses. Above all, I wish good health to both him and his family. An international career which lasts that long is basically a combination of will power, desire, vision, dream, aspiration, self-belief and discipline.more>>
Sri Lankan legend Kumar Sangakkara will hang his boots after a glorious career, in which he amassed 12,350 runs in 133 Tests over 15 years, when he plays his final game at the P Sara Oval from Thursday. It would be an emotional moment for the batsman and perhaps one man who can best understand the legend's present state of mind is Sachin Tendulkar, who quit the sport in 2013 after ruling the world of cricket for 24 years.
Tendulkar paid tributes to Sangakkara.
He's been a fantastic, world-class cricketer. It's been great to watch him grow as a cricketer. Towards the beginning of his career, he wasn't a big hitter of the ball. However, I feel that he really picked it up in the second half of his career, where he would change gears and attack at will. It was part of his growth as a cricketer, and that comes with experience.
Sangakkara exploited this experience beautifully. His consistency in this period was amazing. It was the sign of a world-class cricketer. Sangakkara had his own style of batting. Left-handers are generally good to watch, and so was he. Of course, as an opposition player, I naturally didn't enjoy watching him bat when he got going!
Sangakkara has had an accomplished career. He has been a role model for not just the Sri Lankans, but for cricketers across the world. Sangakkara was always a thorn in India's flesh, having scored 1302 runs in 16 Tests at an average of 54.25, with five hundreds and two fifties to boot. "It was great to play against him.
Whenever we played against Sri Lanka, he was the danger man we looked to get out. I thought him to be a dangerous batsman because he had a special ability: Even though he looked uncomfortable in the middle, he had this knack for scoring runs. The Indian maestro, whose records were threatened by Sangakkara for a while before he announced his retirement, felt that batsmen like him always enjoyed the pressure of being the main run-getter. The leading players of a side always relish that role.
I want to congratulate Sangakkara on a glorious career. I wish him all the success in whatever he chooses. Above all, I wish good health to both him and his family. An international career which lasts that long is basically a combination of will power, desire, vision, dream, aspiration, self-belief and discipline.more>>
World Cup will be the last assignment for Kumar Sangakkara in one-day internationals and the Sri Lankan left-hander has ensured he will sign off on a high, at least on the personal front. Sangakkara, 37, scored 104 against Australia at the Sydney Cricket Ground on Sunday for his third consecutive hundred in the World Cup and also became the second batsman after India's Sachin Tendulkar to cross 14,000 runs in the 50-over format.Considered by many as the most elegant left-handed batsman of the current era, Sangakkara is expected to continue playing test cricket for some time and his retirement will leave a big void in the Sri Lankan batting line-up. His statistics show that in both test and one-day cricket. He's an absolute gentleman, a lovely, lovely guy."
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