Will Sangakkara write his own swansong?

Elegance is the first word that comes to your mind when you think of this exceptional player from Sri Lanka. Making his debut in 2000, he convinced everyone that he belonged here, winning the man of the match award, in his second match itself. As a person, he is possibly one of the most genuine, and is very down to earth. There is a saying about Sri Lankan cricket: If Arjun Ranatunga created it, Sanath Jaisurya destroyed it, Kumar Sangakkara (alongside the veteran Mahela Jayawardena) protected it.

Sri Lanka is a team which never seems to amaze you with their consistency on the big stages.

Let’s have a look at the last few world events, and their positions:

2014 T20 World Cup in Bangladesh: Winners.

2013 ICC Champions Trophy in England: Semi-finalists.

2012 T20 World Cup: Finalists.

2011 ICC Cricket World Cup: Finalists.

That being said, The Sri Lankan team has qualified for the semis (at least) in every World stage event in the last 4 years. A salient reason behind this feat is the wicket keeping batsman himself. He has played some crucial knocks on a number of occasions and made Sri Lanka among the most victorious teams in World cricket.

With 991 world cup runs for Sri Lanka in 30 matches across the 2003, 2007 and 2011 World cups, Kumar Sangakkara is the highest run-scorer heading into the 2015 event. This itself speaks for how much significance he holds for Lanka’s chances. Not to mention his wicket keeping skills, he also enters the 2015 World cup with most dismissals i.e. 36 catches and 10 stumpings, and just 7 World cup dismissals behind the all-time great Adam Gilchrist.

With tons of experience on his back and presumably this being the last world cup that he would be playing, Sangakkara will be keen to take Lanka cross the finishing line this time around and fulfil the ultimate desire of winning the World cup for your country.