Kumar Sangakkara

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Kumar Sangakkara

Personal information
Full name	Kumar Chokshanada Sangakkara
Born	27 October 1977 (1977-10-27) (age 32) Matale, Sri Lanka
Batting style	Left-handed
Bowling style	Right arm off break
Role	Wicket-keeper, Sri Lanka captain
International information
National side	Sri Lanka
Test debut (cap 84)	20 July 2000 v South Africa
Last Test	2 December 2009 v India
ODI debut (cap 93)	5 July 2000 v Pakistan
Last ODI	27 September 2009 v New Zealand
ODI shirt no.	11
Domestic team information
Years	Team
1997 – Present	Nondescripts
2008-Present	Kings XI Punjab
Career statistics
Competition	Test	ODI	FC	LA
Matches	88	257	173	333
Runs scored	7,549	7,660	11,933	10,651
Batting average	55.10	35.79	46.61	38.31
100s/50s	21/32	10/49	29/56	16/66
Top score	287	138*	287	156*
Balls bowled	66	–	192	–
Wickets	0	–	1	–
Bowling average	–	–	108.00	–
5 wickets in innings	0	–	0	–
10 wickets in match	0	–	0	–
Best bowling	0/4	–	1/13	–
Catches/stumpings	157/20	245/63	318/33	319/82
Source: CricketArchive, 6 December 2009

Kumar Chokshanada Sangakkara (born 27 October 1977 at Matale) is a Sri Lankan cricketer and captain of the national team. He is a left-handed batsman and a wicket-keeper. He was educated at Trinity College, Kandy. He is also a law student in Sri Lanka Law College. Sangakkara began his career as a batsman but subsequently became a wicket-keeper. His batting has developed to such an extent that he once topped the LG ICC Test batting rankings. However, in 2006 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 and Twenty20 cricket. As at September 2009, he was ranked 1st on the Test batting rankings. He peaked at 6th on the ICC all-time Test batting rankings.

Sangakkara likes to hit the ball square of the wicket on the off-side and upon making a century, consistently continues on past 150. 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 by considerable margins, Sangakkara left the series with some credit, averaging 46. He plays his domestic cricket for Nondescripts in Sri Lanka and played English county cricket with Warwickshire during 2007. He was billed as a future captain of Sri Lanka.^[2][3]On Sri Lanka's tour to England in May 2006, he was named the vice-captain of the side. In March 2009 he was appointed to captain the Sri Lankan team for the 2009 ICC World Twenty20.

Sangakkara has won a certain degree of admiration for his clever use of sledging and is one of few cricketers who are willing to talk about it openly.

Career highlights

In July 2006, he made 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 twelve 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. With consecutive unbeaten innings 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 company of Sir Don Bradman and Wally Hammond.

On 4 December 2007, Sangakkara became the first batsman ever to make single innings scores in excess of 150 in four consecutive Test matches.

Sangakkara also has 10 ODI centuries to his name, including one against Australia in Colombo in 2004 in what was 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.^[4] 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.^[4]

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 [1] and is currently a law undergraduate, going in the footsteps of his father, who is also a leading lawyer in Kandy. He is multilingual, being able to speak in Sinhalese, Tamil and English and is often seen as the unofficial spokesman of the cricket team. Sangakkara is ambidextrous. On the 3rd of March 2009, a shock attack on the Sri Lankan team convoy injured several players, including Kumar, and also injuring 6 other people on the convoy.

On June 30 2009 Sangakkara's wife gave birth to twins, a girl and boy.

Player Statistics

Career performance

An innings-by-innings breakdown of Sangakkara's Test match batting career, showing runs scored (red bars) and the average of the last ten innings (blue line).

Test 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

One Day International Centuries

Half Centuries

Test Half Centuries

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

Awards

Test Cricket - Man of the match awards

• In this table Ct., refers to the Catches and St. refers to the Stumping

#	Series	Season	Match Performance	Result
1	1st Test - Zimbabwe in Sri Lanka	2001/02	1st Innings - 128(4x22, 6x1) 2nd Innings - 3 Ct.	Won by an innings and 166 runs
2	Final - Asian Test Championship	2001/02	1st Innings - 230(4x33, 6x3); 5 Ct., 1 St. 2nd Innings - 14*(4x1)	Won by 8 wickets
3	2nd Test - Sri Lanka in Zimbabwe	2004	1st Innings - 270(4x36, 6x2); 1 Ct.	Won by an innings and 254 runs
4	2nd Test - South Africa in Sri Lanka	2004	1st Innings - 232(4x31, 6x1); 1 Ct. 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 Ct. 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 Ct.	Won by 88 runs
9	3rd Test - India in Sri Lanka	2008	1st Innings - 144(4x14) 2nd Innings - 04(4x0)	Won by 8 wickets

One-Day International Cricket - Man of the series awards

#	Series	Season	Match Performance	Result
1	Cherry Blossom Sharjah Cup in UAE	2002/2003	228(3 Matches); 100x2	Won the Sharja Cup by 8 wickets
2	South Africa in Sri Lanka	2004	247(5 Matches); 50x3, 5 Ct., 5 St.	Won the series 5-0
3	2nd Test - Sri Lanka in Zimbabwe	2004	182(3 Matches); 100x1, 50x1, 5 Ct.	Won by an innings and 254 runs

One-Day International Cricket - Man of the match awards

#	Series	Season	Match Performance	Result
1	2nd Mt. - Singer Triangular Series vs South Africa	2000	85(4x11); 1 Ct.	Won by 37 runs
2	7th Mt. - NatWest Series vs England in England	2002	70(4x8	Won by 23 runs
3	2nd Mt. - Cherry Blossom Sharjah Cup vs Pakistan in UAE	2002/03	100(4x9)	Won by 7 wickets
4	4th Mt. - Cherry Blossom Sharjah Cup vs Kenyain UAE	2002/03	103(4x9)	Won by 129 runs
5	4th ODI - South Africa in Sri Lanka	2004	74(4x6); 1 St.	Won by 7 wickets
6	Final - Paktel Cup vs Pakistan in Pakistan	2004/05	68(4x7); 1 Ct., 2 St.	Won by 119 runs
7	2nd Mt. - Afro-Asian Cup vs Africa XI in South Africa	2004/05	61(4x9, 6x1); 1 Ct.	A.XIwon by 17 runs
8	3rd Mt. - VB Series vs South Africa in Australia	2005/06	88(4x10)	Won by 94 runs
9	1st Final - VB Series vs Australia in Australia	2005/06	83(4x3, 6x1); 1 St.	Won by 22 runs
10	3rd ODI - Sri Lanka in Bangladesh	2005/06	109(4x11); 1 Ct.	Won by 78 runs
11	2nd ODI - Sri Lanka in India	2006/07	110(4x11, 6x4); 2 Ct., 1 St.	Won by 5 runs
12	8th ODI - Commonwealth Bank Series	2007-08	128 (4x12); 1 Ct.	Won by 2 wickets
13	4th ODI - Gramine Phone Series	2008-09	59 (4x6); 4 Ct.	Won by 2 wickets
14	5th ODI - India tour in Sri Lanka	2009	84 (4x8) (6x1); 2 Ct.	Won by 68 Runs

Product and brand endorsements

• Viva malted milk by GlaxoSmithKline: 2006 - Present^[5]
• Hutchison Telecommunications International Limited: 2007 - 2008^[6]
• Nations Trust Bank: 2008 - Present^[7]
• Coca Cola: 2008 - Present^[8]
• DIMO: 2008 - Present^[9]
• IYOR: 2008 ^[10]
• Airtel : 2009 ^[11]

See also

• Sri Lanka Cricket
• 2009 attack on the Sri Lanka national cricket team
• 100 Runs Test Cricket Partnerships by Sri Lanka

References

External links

• Official Website
• Player Profile: Kumar Sangakkara from Cricinfo
• Sri Lanka Cricket
• Wicket-keeper scores eight 100s!
• Kumar Sangakkara Interview
• Murali will always be a beacon of hope - Kumar Sangakkara
• New captain Sangakkara after the attack

v • d • e Sri Lanka squad – 2003 Cricket World Cup 1 Jayasuriya (c) • 2 Atapattu • 3 Jayawardene • 4 Sangakkara (wk) • 5 De Silva • 6 Arnold • 7 Mubarak • 8 Tillakaratne • 9 Muralitharan • 10 Vaas • 11 Fernando • 12 Gunaratne • 13 Gunawardene • 14 Nissanka • 15 Buddhika • Coach: Whatmore

v • d • e Sri Lanka squad – 2007 Cricket World Cup 1 Jayawardene (c) • 2 Atapattu • 3 Jayasuriya • 4 Tharanga • 5 Sangakkara • 6 Dilshan • 7 Arnold • 8 Silva • 9 Maharoof • 10 Vaas • 11 Fernando • 12 Malinga • 13 Kulasekara • 14 Muralitharan • 15 Bandara • Coach: Moody