Five Best Innings of Kumar Sangakkara
Here we will have a look at the five best innings of Kumar Sangakkara. He is one of the most prolific batsmen around the globe with an amazing credibilty as a batsman who can win you matches and sail you away from tough situations. He has an amazing understanding of the game. He also lead Sri Lanka to the 2011 World Cup final which they lost to India. Not only in front of the stumps but also behind the stumps he is superb. He is one of the two batsmen on whom the Sri Lankan batting is heavily reliant, with the other one being Jayawardene. Here are his best five:
5. 199* vs Pakistan
Paranavitana and Dilshan gave a good start to the Sri Lankan innings in the first Test against Pakistan in 2012 at Galle. After the fall of Paranavitana came in Sangakara, he built good partnerships with Dilshan who got out just after he scored his ton, then Sanga had a good partnership with Jaywardene which brought Sri Lanka in to a comfortable position. But still they needed a big score and Sanga was determined for that but he kept on losing his partners and at the end remained unbeaten on 199. He batted really well to bat with the tailenders and kept them safe from Ajmal who was bowling some beauties.
4. 169 vs South Africa
Dilshan got out early and then came in Sanga who along with Tharanga and Jaywardene brought Sri Lanka in to a good position, and after that it was just him and balls going out of the ground. There was no stopping him and he was batting just opposite to his usual style. He dominated the bowlers in the later stages and scored his last 103 runs of just 46 balls. He finally got out on 169, probably that was the only mis-hit he had that day, but by that time, the damage was done. Sri Lanka reached a score of 320 and later won the game by a whooping 180 runs.
3. 52* vs India
2007 World Cup, 2009 World T20, 2011 World Cup, 2012 World T20. Sri Lanka lost all these mentioned tournaments in the final and they were in the finals of 2014 World T20 yet again up against the dominant Indians. Sri Lanka were having hard times chasing down the 131 target set by the Indian batsmen, but Sangakkara who was playing his last T20I was all determined to go one step ahead this time around. He along with Perera settled, hung in and did not give any chance to the Indian bowlers and saw Sri Lanka through to the target and provided them the 1st victory after losing 4 World event finals in 7 years. He went off the field with an unbeaten 52 of just 35 balls. It was one of the best moments for all cricket fans to watch Jayawardene and Sangakkara in their last World T20 having their hands on the trophy.
2. Sri Lanka had the target of 507 to chase down in the second Test at Hobart in 2007 againsts the hosts. Sangkkara had to come in at nimber 3 a lot earlier than one would like. Nevertheless he built a strong partnership with Atapattu but once Atapattu got out it never looked Sri Lanka had any chance, still Sanga was fighting and finally Malinga stuck around with him. Sanga and Malinga added 74 runs together for the 9th wicket and took Sri Lanka to 364 and once everybody started beliving that there is no way outdoing Sanga today, the umpire played his role. He gave him caught behind when the ball was off the shoulder when he was on 192. Thereafter all hopes were lost and Sri Lanka got out for 410 after some entertainment from Murali and Malinga.
1. After the early loss of Tharanga and Jayasuriya, Sangakkara found his all time best mate as his partner against South Africa in the first Test in Colombo and this partnership went on to become a historic one as they put on a record partnership of 624. Sanga scored a magnificient 287 and missed out on a well deserved triple ton. Sri Lanka won the match by an innings. He was so fluent throughout the innings and no bowler ever looked to trouble him in any way.
