5 things you should know about Kumar Sangakkara
Kumar Sangakkara, the man who retires as a Sri Lankan legend of the gentleman’s game at the age of 37, is widely known for his polished and prudent batting in all the three formats of the game. The wicket-keeper batsman has featured in 133 Test matches for Sri Lanka and has scored 12,310 runs at an impressive average of 57.79 with the 319 he scored against Bangladesh in 2014 as his individual best score.He has 38 Test centuries and 51 half centuries to his credit. In the ODI format, he has appeared in 404 matches for his country, amassing a total of 14.234 runs at an average of 41.98 with 169 as his personal best. He has scored 25 centuries and 93 half centuries in ODIs.The world of cricket will soon see the end of an illustrious 16-year career, that of Kumar Sangakkara, who is loved throughout the globe for being the player and the person he is. We have all seen him on the field playing for Sri Lanka or for the franchise sides, but most of us would not be knowing how talented he is. We take a look at the five things about him you probably didn't know-
#1 His first love was not cricket
Like the other cricketing genius of this age, AB De Villiers, Sangakkara was a talented sportsman from a very early age in a variety of sports. Badminton, tennis, swimming, table tennis and cricket were sports he competed in while in junior school.
He also represented his nation at junior levels in badminton and tennis. It is known that the principal of his school convinced his mother to encourage him to concentrate on cricket.
He was also a brilliant student, and was awarded the highest honour of being the best all-round student in his year from his college.