List of international cricket centuries by Kumar Sangakkara

A Sri Lankan cricketer, side on, in his batting stance. He is wearing the blue uniform of the Sri Lanka national cricket team. A few spectators are seen in the background.
Kumar Sangakkara has scored 63 international centuries.

Kumar Sangakkara is a retired Sri Lankan cricketer and a former captain of the Sri Lanka national cricket team. He is a left-handed top-order batsman and plays as the wicket-keeper in One Day International (ODI) format of the game. Described by the English cricket writer Peter Roebuck as "among the most polished and prudent of batsmen",[1] Sangakkara has made centuries (100 or more runs in a single innings) on 38 and 25 occasions in Test and ODI matches respectively. He has at times been top of the International Cricket Council (ICC) rankings for Test batsmen.[2][3] His awards include ODI Cricketer of the Year, captain of the ICC World XI Test team, and the 2011 ICC People's Choice Award (all at the 2011 ICC Awards),[4] and being named one of the Wisden Cricketers of the Year in 2012.[5]

Sangakkara made his Test debut against South Africa in July 2000.[6] He scored his maiden Test century in 2001, against India,[7] and his first double-century during the 2002 Asian Test Championship final against Pakistan.[8] Sangakkara's highest score in Test cricket is 319, which he scored against Bangladesh in 2014. During his innings of 287 against South Africa in 2006, he and Mahela Jayawardene set a new world record of 624 runs for the highest partnership for any wicket in Test or first-class cricket.[9][N 1] In the following year, he scored back-to-back double-centuries against Bangladesh, the fifth instance of successive double-centuries in Test cricket.[11][N 2] He has scored 200 or more runs in a Test match on eleven occasions, surpassing Brian Lara, who has scored 200 or more runs in a Test match on nine occasions; only Donald Bradman (12 double-centuries) has done so more often.[12] He became the ninth batsman and second Sri Lankan to score centuries against all Test-playing nations in December 2007, when he scored 152 against England.[13][N 3] He was appointed captain of the Sri Lanka team in March 2009, following the resignation of Mahela Jayawardene,[14] and the first of his seven Test centuries as captain came against Pakistan in July of the same year.[15] Sangakkara has the second-highest batting average—69.60 per innings—for a captain who scored a minimum of 1,500 runs.[16][N 4]

He made his ODI debut in July 2000 against Pakistan, and his first century in this format was against the same team during the 2003 Cherry Blossom Sharjah Cup.[17][18] The start of his ODI career was "fairly ordinary", according to one cricket journalist, as he only scored two centuries in four years.[19] His highest score of 169 was made at the R. Premadasa Stadium, Colombo, against South Africa, during South African cricket team in Sri Lanka in 2013. Sangakkara's only ODI century as captain was scored against New Zealand in a group stage match in the 2011 ICC World Cup.[20] In the sixth match of the 2011–12 Commonwealth Bank Series, Sangakkara became the third and fastest Sri Lanka batsman to reach 10,000 ODI runs.[N 5] He played 56 Twenty20 International matches (T20Is) between 2006 and 2014; his highest score in the format is 78.[23]

  1. ^ Roebuck, Peter (16 September 2011). "The all-round art of Sangakkara". ESPNcricinfo. Archived from the original on 22 December 2011. Retrieved 11 June 2012.
  2. ^ "Sangakkara reclaims top spot in Test ratings". ESPNcricinfo. 29 November 2010. Archived from the original on 7 December 2013. Retrieved 11 June 2012.
  3. ^ "Sangakkara returns to No. 1 in Test rankings". ESPNcricinfo. 12 November 2011. Archived from the original on 28 April 2012. Retrieved 11 June 2012.
  4. ^ Ramakrishnan, Madhusudhan (17 February 2012). "Sangakkara named ODI Cricketer of the Year". ESPNcricinfo. Archived from the original on 30 April 2012. Retrieved 11 June 2012.
  5. ^ "Wisden 2012 Five Cricketers of the Year". Wisden Cricketers' Almanack. Archived from the original on 10 October 2012. Retrieved 11 June 2012.
  6. ^ "Test Matches played by Kumar Sangakkara". CricketArchive. Archived from the original on 28 July 2013. Retrieved 13 June 2012.
  7. ^ Cite error: The named reference ESPN2 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  8. ^ Cite error: The named reference ESPN3 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  9. ^ "Sri Lanka pair break world record". BBC Sport. 29 July 2006. Archived from the original on 22 February 2014. Retrieved 11 June 2012.
  10. ^ Lloyd, Kalam (30 July 2006). "Jayawardene and Sangakkara pile on record partnership". The Guardian. Archived from the original on 28 February 2014. Retrieved 11 June 2012.
  11. ^ a b Basevi, Travis; Binoy, George (18 July 2007). "Sangakkara's rare double, and Waqar's hot streaks". ESPNcricinfo. Archived from the original on 17 February 2013. Retrieved 5 July 2012.
  12. ^ "Test match records: Most double hundreds in a career". ESPNcricinfo. Archived from the original on 18 February 2017. Retrieved 4 January 2015.
  13. ^ a b McGlashan, Andrew (4 December 2007). "Sangakkara century sets up victory chance". ESPNcricinfo. Archived from the original on 18 October 2012. Retrieved 13 June 2012.
  14. ^ Thawfeeq, Sa'adi (11 March 2009). "Sangakkara appointed SL captain for World Twenty20". ESPNcricinfo. Archived from the original on 7 June 2011. Retrieved 11 June 2012.
  15. ^ "Kumar Sangakkara: Test centuries as captain". ESPNcricinfo. Archived from the original on 29 March 2014. Retrieved 11 June 2012.
  16. ^ a b "Batting records – Highest average as captain". ESPNcricinfo. Archived from the original on 29 March 2014. Retrieved 13 June 2012.
  17. ^ "ODI Matches played by Kumar Sangakkara". CricketArchive. Archived from the original on 28 July 2013. Retrieved 1 July 2012.
  18. ^ Cite error: The named reference ESPN1 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  19. ^ Ramakrishnan, Madhusudhan (17 February 2012). "Durability Sangakkara's forte". ESPNcricinfo. Archived from the original on 24 April 2012. Retrieved 11 June 2012.
  20. ^ Cite error: The named reference ESPN10 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  21. ^ "Fastest to 10000 runs in ODIs". ESPNCricinfo. Retrieved 28 July 2024.
  22. ^ "Commitment is Sanga's key to success: Former captain fastest Sri Lankan to 10,000 runs". The Island. Archived from the original on 3 March 2016. Retrieved 11 June 2012.
  23. ^ "KC Sangakkara – Runs scored in Twenty20 Internationals". ESPNcricinfo. Archived from the original on 29 March 2014. Retrieved 18 June 2012.


Cite error: There are <ref group=N> tags on this page, but the references will not show without a {{reflist|group=N}} template (see the help page).