The Duniyah Cricket Blog

Kumar Sangakkara’s entry into Sri Lankan cricket was certainly not pre-destined by any stretch of one’s imagination. He was more or less a non-factor in the domestic cricket scene in Sri Lanka but a swashbuckling innings of 156 not out for Sri Lanka ‘A’ in a 50 over encounter against the visiting Zimbabwe ‘A’ team in May of 2000 propelled him to be in contention for a spot in the national team for a home Tri-series featuring South Africa and Pakistan.

In just his second international match against South Africa, Sangakkara played a match winning innings of 85 and won the man of the match award. I was present at the grounds to witness this match and was not the least bit impressed with the young Sangakkara, possibly more so because I was upset that his arrival spelt the beginning of the end of the much loved little Kalu who until then was Sri Lanka’s first choice wicket keeper batsman.

Sangakkara made his Test debut during the 2000 home series against South Africa and within 6 months time played what I thought was one of his finest Test match innings, a gutsy knock of 98 in hostile conditions at Centurion against a SA attack that also included Allan Donald. He enjoyed similar success when we toured SA again a year later and it was during this tour that Sangakkara’s prowess as a master sledger came to play. After being at the receiving end of some serious abuse from the South Africans, the Lankan boys lead by Sangakkara returned the favour in style to the home team and even though we lost that series, the team came through as a far more mentally strong outfit and Sangakkara should be given a great deal of credit for this. After this tour Sangakkara almost singled out the South Africans for some intelligent sledging every time the two teams met and this even continued during South Africa’s crucial match against Sri Lanka which resulted in their infamous exit from the World Cup in 2003.

Kumar Sangakkara by his own admission was not a naturally gifted batsman like for instance his Captain and great friend, Mahela Jayawardena. Sangakkara’s mercurial rise to become the World’s number one ranked Test batsman (as of 18th June 2008) has been made possible by sheer hard work, determination and an impeccable work ethic. The early part of Sangakkara’s career, especially the 2000 to Feb 2003 period, despite the more than impressive numbers was plagued by some level of inconsistency. His mode of dismissals were all too repetitive and it was at this point that Sangakkara began to transform his game and actually put a prize on his wicket without just throwing it away. This was the time when Kumar Sangakkara the complete Test batsman was being unearthed. The five year period beginning 2003 was to become Sangakkara’s purple patch where he AVG an impressive 60 in Test match cricket (compared to an AVG of 48 in his first three years) and notched up 12 Test hundreds, 8 of which were match winning efforts. His abilities as a one day batsman also came to play during this period where he AVG 40 with the bat (compared to an AVG of 27 in his first three years in the shorter format of the game)

KUMAR SANGAKKARA’S TEST MATCH STATS

Country—————-Span———-Mat———–Runs——–HS———Bat Av——100

v Australia———–2004-2007——6————-503———192———-41.91———-1
v Bangladesh——–2001-2007——9————–707———222*——–88.37———-2
v England————2001-2007—–15————1007———152———40.28———-1
v India—————2001-2005——-6————-320———105*———40.00———-1
v New Zealand——2003-2006——6 ————-438———156*———62.57———2
v Pakistan——— -2002-2006——-5————744———-230———-82.66———-3
v South Africa——2000-2006——12————1182———287———-53.72———-2
v West Indies——2001-2008—— -9————–690———157*———49.28———-2
v Zimbabwe——–2001-2004——-5—————536———-270———89.33———-2

Test batting AVG when playing purely as a batsman -: 88.52 in 20 Tests

Test batting AVG when playing as a keeper/batsman -: 40.48 in 48 Tests.

Test batting AVG at home -: 60.70 in 41 Tests.

Test batting AVG away -: 49.38 in 32 Tests.

Test batting AVG in matches won by Sri Lanka -: 87.02 in 33 matches

12 of his 16 Test match hundreds to date have been match winning efforts for Sri Lanka.

Over the years Kumar Sangakkara has played some magnificent knocks for us and two of my favourites happen to be ones that he played against Australia in Australia. His fighting match saving innings of 66 [i](batting for no less than 63 overs)[/i] on the final day of the Test match at Cairns in 2004 where Shane Warne was turning the ball square and McGrath and Gillespie were at their very best too, was simply incredible. His majestic innings of 192 at Hobart against the same opponents last year was one of the best Test innings I have ever seen.

Just like his batting both in Test and One day cricket his wicket keeping too drastically improved in that post 2003 World Cup period. Though he does not keep wickets anymore in Test match cricket he has earned the reputation of being one of the best wicket keeper batters in the game along with Australia’s Adam Glichrist who retired recently. Unlike Gilly, Sangakkara for most of his career has carried the additional and enormous burden of being his team’s best batsman, batting at the pivotal number three position after having kept wickets for a minimum 50 + overs to a certain Muttiah Muralitheran among others. This in my opinion makes Sangakkara’s achievements as a Test wicket keeper / batsman far more superior to that of Gilly. The one thing that is common to both Gilly and Sangakkara are that they are probably the only two walkers in the game today.

Whenever I have watched Sangakkara bat for a World Eleven team or Asia or more recently the Kings of Punjab where he has batted in such a dominant fashion, I couldn’t help but wonder as to what more he would have and could have achieved as a batsman in the event that Sri Lanka had the batting strength of an Australia or India.

Off the field Sangakkara is the media favourite for post game comments and / or interviews and there is no one in International cricket at the moment that can articulate their views as well Sangakkara. The fact that he is also a barrister other than being a cricketer sets him apart intellectually from the rest of the cricketing community.

I have always felt that Kumar Sangakkara was destined to lead Sri Lanka at some stage and I for one hope that the day he does so is not too far away!