A look back at Kumar Sangakkara's all-time Test XI
Kumar Sangakkara is widely regarded as one of the world's most influential cricketers and one of the greatest batsmen of all time. He was the undisputed number one Test Batsman in the ICC Test Rankings from 2005 to 2015 and has created records with the Wicket-Keeping gloves too.
Nobody can ever forget the monumental 624 run stand between him and Mahela Jayawardene, that made the South African bowlers look lifeless. He has scored more than 12,000 runs in Test cricket and has 11 Double Centuries to his name, being second only to Sir Donald Bradman, who has 12 Double Centuries.
Being the fifth highest run scorer in Test Cricket history, and someone who achieved phenomenal success as a Test Batsman himself, Sangakkara's favourite Test XI of all time should be exciting.
Sanga has been a cricketing legend and his choice of the best Test cricketers would be interesting to know. Here is the list of players that Sangakkara picked back in 2016:
#1 Matthew Hayden (Australia)
Sangakkara has picked the aggressive Hayden to open and face the first ball. Hayden or Haydos was one batsman who could make the opposition bowlers fear him merely due to his sheer ability to smash the ball, irrespective of the format.
He also holds the record for the Highest individual Test score by an Australian as well as the Highest individual Test score by an opening Batsman (380).
Hayden scored his 30th Test Century (103) in his 94th test match, to go past the legendary Don Bradman's haul. With that knock, Hayden took his career aggregate to 8,242 runs, that were scored at an average of 53.51 runs per innings. He has also scored 27 Half-Centuries in 94 Tests.
#2 Rahul Dravid (India)
The former Sri Lanka Wicket-Keeper Batsman picked Dravid to open alongside Hayden. He labelled Dravid and Sir Viv Richards as his all-time favourites.
Dravid, who is widely regarded as one of the greatest Batsman in the history of Test cricket, is also the fourth highest run scorer in the history of Test Cricket.
Dravid holds a record of never getting out for a Golden Duck (duck on the first ball one faces) in the 286 Test innings that he has played.
Respectfully called the 'Wall' because of his ability to stand tall at the crease and not get out, Dravid has faced a total of 31258 balls, which is the highest number of balls faced by any player in the history of Test cricket. He has also spent a total of 44152 minutes at the crease, which again is the highest amount of time spent on the crease by any player in Test cricket history.