Daffodil International University
Entertainment & Discussions => Sports Zone => Cricket => Topic started by: Shahriar Mohammad Kamal on August 29, 2015, 03:32:28 PM
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It wasn't supposed to end like this
but that didn’t stop the crowd at P
Sara Oval from getting to their feet
and applauding a champion who walked
into the sunset one last time. There
were tears and some were inconsolable
as Kumar Sangakkara trudged back to
the pavilion after scoring 18.
That's the kind of legacy Sangakkara
has left behind in Sri Lankan and
world cricket.
The ending wasn’t as sad as that
painful 96-ball 45 in World Cup at the
Sydney Cricket Ground but he deserved
a better one.
Sangakkara wasn't a child prodigy but
as he left the P Sara Oval, he had
28,016 international runs to his name
- trailing only Sachin Tendulkar in
terms of the most international runs
scored in the history of the game. He
is also the only batsman to feature in
the top 10 in terms of runs, average
and centuries in Test cricket.
Looking at these stats one may imagine
that Sangakkara got off to a
blistering start. But that isn't the
case. In his first year in Test
cricket, he averaged 33.31 without a
single century. His ODI start was even
slower. In the first three years
(2000-2003), he averaged just 28.55
with a strike rate of 69.39 and just
two hundreds. That he finished with
mind-boggling statistics is a
testament to the hard work he has put
in over the years.
He started off as an average player
but he wasn't afraid to make changes.
He was one of the most improved
players in international cricket.
He had a limited range of shots, but
as his career blossomed, he started
adapting to the needs of the game. He
added more and more shots to his
repertoire. When he started, he
scratched around for survival.
His innings were grinders, then there
was some fluency instilled and then
those were converted into match-
winning knocks. Thirties became
fifties, fifties became hundreds and
then hundreds became double hundreds.
From a strike-rate of 67.29 in ODIs in
his first year, he ended with a strike
rate of 78.86. He had mastered the art
of pacing the innings. From a fighter
to a master, Sangakkara defied logic
as he improved immensely with age.
Talk of Sangakkara and the first word
that comes to your mind is
consistency. During the India-Sri
Lanka encounters, every time
Sangakkara strode out to bat,
conversations among friends started
with, "Sanga aa gaya hai batting
karne, at least 50 to pakka hai."
(Sangakkara has come out to bat,
expect him to score at least 50).
These comments were tinged with
frustration, of course.
Over the span of his 15-year career,
2000, 2005 and 2008 are the only years
when Sanga did not average over 40 in
Tests. His average was over 50 in ten
of the years he played.
Since 2010, he averaged almost 53 in
ODIs.
His best year in international cricket
came in 2014 at the age of 36, when he
shattered record after record. He
scored 2,868 international runs,
breaking Ricky Ponting's mark for most
runs in a calendar year.
[Coll.]