Sangakkara to Retire after First Test against India?

Sri Lankan batsman Kumar Sangakkara is expected to bid adieu to his test career after the first test against India. This means that Sangakkara is just 3 tests( 2 against Pakistan and 1 against India) away from retiring from Test Cricket too.

A final call on his retirement will be taken on Tuesday when he meets the national selectors for a meeting. But he has already informed the selectors that he’ll play only three tests after which he is to play county cricket for Surrey.

If this turns out to be the case, it would mean that Sangakkara won’t play any further cricket in his hometown Kandy. The two tests against Pakistan are scheduled in Galle and Colombo, and Galle is also set to host the first test against India, but there hasn’t been an official announcement on this.

There are chances that the first test against India maybe moved to Kandy, but then preparations have already started in Galle, and Sangakkara may end his career at the place of his debut.

Initially, Sangakkara was to retire from all the forms of cricket following the World Cup, but captain Angelo Matthews and national selectors convinced him to stay on for two more series. They also hoped that Sangakkara plays all six tests against Pakistan and India, but it seems unlikely. Surrey’s schedule plays a part in this decision too.

Sangakkara, who has 12,203 Test runs to his name including  38 Test hundreds at an average of 58.66, will go into the sunset of his career as Sri Lanka’s best batsman, and will be number 5th on the list of highest run-getters in tests. With 11 double centuries to his name, he is just one short of equaling Sir Don Bradman’s record of 12 double centuries.

Sangakkara holds the record for being the fastest batsmen to reach 8000, 9000, 10,000 (jointly with Brian Lara and Sachin Tendulkar), 11,000 and 12,000 Test runs in terms of innings played.

Sangakkara’s retirement will mark the end of an era which featured some of the best batsmen the world came across in Tendulkar, Lara, Ponting, Dravid, Kallis, Jayawardene, Inzamam, Mohammed Yusuf and Sangakkara himself.