Kumar Sangakkara will take retirement from Test

Sri Lanka’s wicketkeeper-batsman Kumar Sangakkara on Saturday announced that the second Test match against India would be his last international match. After this match, he will take retirement from Test cricket.

The 37-year-old Sangakkara has already taken retirement from ODI and Twenty20 cricket. He bade farewell to T20 cricket after Sri Lanka won the Twenty20 World Cup in 2014 and announced his retirement from ODI cricket format during the ICC World Cup 2015.

At present, he is the fifth highest run scorer in Test cricket. Playing 131 Tests, he has so far scored 12271 runs at an average of 58.66. 

Kumar Sangakkara will not change his decision

Sri Lankan wicketkeeper-batsman, Kumar Sangakkara, will not change his decision of taking retirement from ODI cricket after the World Cup regardless his record-breaking form.

The 37-year-old left-handed batsman became the first player to score four consecutive centuries in ODI cricket. His fourth century came against Scotland in Hobart on Wednesday in which Sri Lanka won the match by 148 runs and secured their place in the quarter-finals.

He said Lankan skipper, Angelo Mathews, after the victory at Bellerive Oval requested him to continue his ODI career after the World Cup. In reply to the question whether he will reconsider his decision after his current run of form, he said, “No. It is never about whether you can play or not.”

It seems Kumar Sangakkara, who made his ODI debut in 2000, has started facing the physical effects of the game at this age. He said, “I've been batting and keeping for a long time, it's getting harder and the joints are creaking and aching, but I consider myself lucky to be part of a great team.”

Besides making new record with the bat, he also made the record for the most number of dismissals in ODI- 473, leaving behind legendary wicketkeeper-batsman, Adam Gilchrist’s 472.

Let’s see if he can take his record to a new height with the bat and his role behind the wicket. 

Kumar Sangakkara is just one Test double century behind Don Bradman

Scoring 203 in the first innings of the second Test against New Zealand, Sri Lankan batsman Kumar Sangakkara has bagged his 11th Test double century. He is just one double century behind Australian legend Don Bradman for the most double centuries.

He played the most important role with the bat. Thanks to his triple figure, Sri Lanka could score 356 runs losing all wickets and gave the host a 135-run lead.

The 37-year-old player will take retirement cricket ODI after the ICC Cricket World Cup 2015 which will kick off in February.

On day one of the five-day Test match, he became the fastest player to reach 12000 Test runs. Before the start of the match, Sangakkara had 11,995 runs beside his name. It took him 224th innings to achieve that feat. India’s Sachin Tendulkar and Australia’s Ricky Ponting were previous record holder. Both these two batsmen needed 247 innings to reach the milestone.

He is the fifth player of this elite club. Sachin Tendulkar is the highest run getter with 15,921 runs. He is followed by Ricky Ponting (13,378), Jacques Kallis (13,289) and Rahul Dravid (13,288). 

Kumar Sangakkara cannot play the remaining matches of Australia tour

The injury of Kumar Sangakkara has come as a big blow for the Sri Lankan cricket team. Because of his injury, he cannot play the rest of the matches in Sri Lanka’s tour of Australia. He had fractured his left hand after a ball from Mitchell Johnson hit his left hand in the second Test match.

He had to go under scan which had revealed a fracture on his left hand. He will have to go under surgery that will require around six to eight weeks to get recovery.

It has prolonged Sri Lanka’s injury list. Other three players who had sustained injury in the first two Test matches are Wicketkeeper Prasanna Jayawardene, Chanaka Welegedara and Nuwan Kulasekara.

After being struck by a Johnson delivery, Prasanna Jayawardene sustained a hairline thumb fracture. Chanaka Welegedara is suffering from hamstring injury while Nuwan Kulasekara hurt his ribs and they are unlikely to be fit.

This injury list will put the team management under immense pressure. They will have to face a lot of problems to select the squad for the rest of the matches.

Sri Lankan cricket team will have to find someone who can successfully replace Kumar Sangakkara.

It is the time to see if young players can successfully replace the injured players.