Kumar Sangakkara: A Century Well Earned

Kumar Sangakkara will become the fifth Sri Lankan cricketer to play 100 Tests during the third and final match against Australia. He'll join the giants of the island, Muttiah Muralitharan {133 matches}, Mahela Jayawardene {121}, Chaminda Vaas {111} and Sanath Jayasuriya {110}, in passing the milestone.

The great thing about Sangakkara's record is that he has missed only two Tests since his debut. Sri Lanka won one and lost one in those two matches.

Sri Lanka's Most Capped Test Cricketers

Here's a list of all Sri Lankan Test players with 50 or more Test caps.

Interestingly, three cricketers of these 12 - Jayawardene, Tillakaratne Dilshan and Thilan Samaraweera - will play alongside Sangakkara in his 100^th Test.

No	Player	Mat	Runs	Wkts	Ct	St
1	M Muralitharan	133	1261	800	72	0
2	DPMD Jayawardene	121	9801	6	170	0
3	WPUJC Vaas	111	3089	355	31	0
4	ST Jayasuriya	110	6973	98	78	0
5	KC Sangakkara	99	8572	0	166	20
6	PA de Silva	93	6361	29	43	0
7	A Ranatunga	93	5105	16	47	0
8	MS Atapattu	90	5502	1	58	0
9	HP Tillakaratne	83	4545	0	122	2
10	TM Dilshan	70	4299	23	74	0
11	TT Samaraweera	68	4683	15	40	0
12	RS Mahanama	52	2576	0	56	0

Sangakkara, who made his Test debut in the Galle Test against South Africa in July 2000, is the second Sri Lankan to aggregate 8500 Test runs, the first being Jayawardene with 9801.

Sangakkara would become the 51^st cricketer to appear in 100 or more Tests. The country-wise break-up of the previous 50 is - Australia {11}, England {08}, India {08}, New Zealand {02}, Pakistan {04}, South Africa {05}, Sri Lanka {04} and West Indies {08}.

A Champion Batsman - Home & Abroad

Sangakkara has played 99 tests oveall, 57 home tests and 42 away tests. His performance is tabulated below.  

Career Summary	Overall
Opposition	Mat	Inns	NO	Runs	HS	Ave	C	F	Z	4s	6s
Australia	8	16	0	647	192	40.43	1	4	1	82	2
Bangladesh	11	14	2	876	*222	73.00	2	5	1	104	3
England	18	32	1	1191	152	38.41	2	6	1	158	1
India	15	24	2	1257	219	57.13	5	2	0	150	3
New Zealand	8	14	3	651	*156	59.18	3	2	0	96	3
Pakistan	10	19	2	1314	230	77.29	5	5	0	160	5
South Africa	12	22	0	1182	287	53.72	2	5	0	165	3
West Indies	12	19	2	918	*157	54.00	3	5	1	110	1
Zimbabwe	5	6	0	536	270	89.33	2	1	0	76	4
Total	99	166	12	8572	287	55.66	25	35	4	1101	25

Career Summary	Home Tests
Opposition	Mat	Inns	NO	Runs	HS	Ave	100	50	0	4s	6s
Australia	5	10	0	256	69	25.60	0	1	0	31	1
Bangladesh	7	7	2	592	*222	118.40	2	2	0	70	2
England	9	14	0	671	152	47.92	1	4	1	92	1
India	9	14	2	892	219	74.33	4	2	0	103	2
New Zealand	4	7	1	317	109	52.83	1	2	0	51	1
Pakistan	5	10	1	619	185	68.77	2	2	0	69	1
South Africa	7	12	0	790	287	65.83	2	2	0	110	2
West Indies	8	12	2	680	*157	68.00	3	2	1	86	1
Zimbabwe	3	4	0	255	128	63.75	1	1	0	38	2
Total	57	90	8	5072	287	61.85	16	18	2	650	13

Career Summary	Away Tests
Opposition	Mat	Inns	NO	Runs	HS	Ave	100	50	0	4s	6s
Australia	3	6	0	391	192	65.16	1	3	1	51	1
Bangladesh	4	7	0	284	69	40.57	0	3	1	34	1
England	9	18	1	520	119	30.58	1	2	0	66	0
India	6	10	0	365	137	36.50	1	0	0	47	1
New Zealand	4	7	2	334	*156	66.80	2	0	0	45	2
Pakistan	5	9	1	695	230	86.87	3	3	0	91	4
South Africa	5	10	0	392	98	39.20	0	3	0	55	1
West Indies	4	7	0	238	75	34.00	0	3	0	24	0
Zimbabwe	2	2	0	281	270	140.50	1	0	0	38	2
Total	42	76	4	3500	270	48.61	9	17	2	451	12

The Road Forward

Sangakkara belongs to the new generation of cricketers who took Sri Lankan cricket forward in all forms. With players like Jayawardene, Muralitharan, Atapattu, Samaraweera and Dilshan, Sri Lanka have been able to win more games, both home and away.

This is especially true when Sangakkara has been in the team. He will be truly hard to replace.

SL in Tests	Matches	Won	Lost	Drawn
Overall	203	61	72	70
Before Sangakkara	102	18	41	43
After Sangakkara	101	43	31	27

Note: All statistics are as of 15.09.11, a day prior to the start of the third Test between Sri Lanka and Australia at Col-SSC on 16.09.11.