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Rediff.com  » Cricket » Sangakkara to bid adieu to cricket during home series

Sangakkara to bid adieu to cricket during home series

July 09, 2015 12:44 IST
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Kumar Sangakkara

Kumar Sangakkara's farewell in Colombo. Photograph: Reuters

Sri Lankan batting great Kumar Sangakkara will end his international career at the P Sara Oval next month in the second match of the three-Test series against familiar foes India.

India's tour of Sri Lanka: Galle to host first Test on August 12

Last month, Sri Lanka's most prolific batman announced his decision to retire after the second Test against India, bringing the curtain down on an illustrious 15-year stay at the crease.

The 37-year-old Sangakkara bid farewell to the One-day game on March 18, disappointed with a World Cup quarter-final defeat and saying that he was happy Sri Lanka were in a better place than when he came into the side in 2000.

P Sara Oval will host the second Test, which will be Sangakkara's 134th and final appearance, from August 20.

The former captain has scored 12,305 runs from 132 Tests at an average of slightly higher than 58, to go with his 14,234 runs in 404 one-day internationals.

Sri Lanka will begin a new era without the southpaw when they head to Sinhalese Sports Club (SSC), also in Colombo, for the third and final match against their neighbours.

Factbox on Kumar Sangakkara

* Born on Oct. 27, 1977, in Matale.

* Played 404 One-Day Internationals since his 2000 debut, scoring 14,234 runs with a highest score of 169. Only Sachin Tendulkar of India (18,426) has scored more runs in 50-over cricket.

* Currently playing his 132nd Test, Sangakkara has amassed 12,305 runs at a 58-plus average, which makes him Sri Lanka's most prolific batsman and fifth on the list of highest scorers of all time in Test cricket.

* Sangakkara has registered 38 test hundreds and is one short of Australian great Donald Bradman's record 12 double centuries.

* He won two 50-over World Cup runners-up medals, in 2007 and 2011.

* He was part of the 2014 Twenty20 World Cup-winning squad.

* Sangakkara made 1,382 runs from 56 Twenty20 Internationals at an average of 31.40.

* He was a member of the Sri Lanka touring team in Pakistan that was attacked by gunmen in 2009.

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