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July 5 2000
The Beginning
Kumar Sangakkara made his ODI debut at the age of 22 against Pakistan in the triangular series on July 5, 2000. He was picked up for the tournament on the back of a brilliant 156* for Sri Lanka A against Zimbabwe A in an unofficial ODI.
July 6th 2000
The First Fifty
In his second ODI game itself, Kumar Sangakkara smacked a solid 85 against South Africa a day after he made his debut. Sri Lanka went on to win the game by 37 runs and Sangakkara was also awarded the Man of the Match for that game. He ended the tournament with 199 runs at an average of 66.33.
July 20th 2000
The Longer Format
Sangakkara's ODI exploits earned him the Test cap on July 20, 2000 against South Africa in a three-match series. Although his highest scores in the series did not extend beyond 20s, he retained his place in the side.
August 15th-16th 2001
The First Century
Sangakkara missed the century mark twice, getting out in the 90s, once against South Africa, then against England. However, he finally hit his first Test hundred against India when they toured the island nation in August 2001. His innings of 105 helped SL to a 10-wicket victory over the visitors.
March 6th-7th 2002
The Double Century
Less than a year later in March 2002, Sangakkara scored a blistering 234 in the Asian Test Championship final against Pakistan. The mammoth innings came off 327 balls and Sri Lanka eventually won the game by 8 wickets.
April 4th 2003
First Taste Of ODI Sucess
Despite achieving consistent success in the longest format of the game, Kumar Sangakkara's first ODI ton came nearly three years after his debut in his 86th match. He smashed an unbeaten 100 in SL's score of 223 against Pakistan in Sharjah. Unfortunately that hundred came in losing cause as Pakistan easily chased the target with seven wickets to spare.
May 16th-17th 2004
The First 250-Plus Score
Kumar Sangakkara along with Marvan Atapattu shared a massive 438 second-wicket stand against Zimbabwe in May 2004. Sangakkara ended up scoring 270, missing a triple hundred by just 30 runs. It was, however, his first 250-plus score.
August 11th-12th 2004
Another Double To Boost
Sangakkara hit his second double ton in four months in August 2004 against South Africa. His score of 232 was the highest in Sri Lanka's first innings total of 470, a game that SL went on to win by 313 runs.
July 2nd 2005
World Honours
In July 2005, Sangakkara was named in the ICC World XI ODI side for the Super Series. However, he failed to make it to the World XI Test team, despite having got.
Februrary 20th 2006
Responsibility Beckons
When regular captain Marvan Atapattu was injured early 2006, Mahela Jayawardene was named as the captain of the Sri Lankan team with the vice-captaincy duties falling on Kumar Sangakkara for the series against Pakistan in March 2006. However, Atapattu failed to recover quickly and Sanga ended up filling the role of vice-captain on a full-time basis.
July 27th-29th, 2006
The Mega Stand
In July 2006, Kumar Sangakkara shared a huge 624-run stand, the highest in first-class cricket, with Mahela Jayawardene against a helpless South African side. Sanga scored 287 and was distraught falling just 13 short of what could have been an epic triple century.
February 2nd 2007
County Aspirations
Soon after he was named in the World Test team announced by the ICC and was subsequently signed by Warwickshire in February 2007.
JULY 3rd-14th 2007
Double Bonanza
In July 2007, Sangakkara became only the fifth player in Test history to hit successive double centuries. He smashed 200 not out and 222 not out against Bangladesh in a home series.
November 19th-20th 2007
At The Top
Sangakkara topped the ICC Test player rankings in December 2007 for the first time. He replaced Ricky Ponting. It was then the highest rating ever achieved by a Sri Lankan player.
February 20th 2008
T20 Festival
Sangakkara was signed by the Kings XI Punjab in the Indian Premier League for US$700,000 in 2008. He subsequently went on to play for the Deccan Chargers and the SunRisers Hyderabad side.
February 11th 2009
Leading From The Front
After Mahela Jayawardene stepped down as the captain, Sangakkara was handed the responsibility in February 2009 at the age of 31. His first engagement was the 2009 World T20, where Sri Lanka ended as runners-up after being defeated by Pakistan in the final.
February 19th -April 2nd 2011
The 2011 World Cup
Sangakkara proved to be a decent captain with his fair share of successes and losses. He led Sri Lanka into the final of the 2011 World Cup, which they lost. Sanga, however, scored in the excess of 450 runs. He later resigned from captaincy after the tournament.
July 4th 2011
The Orator
Kumar Sangakkara delivered the 2011 MCC Spirit of Cricket Cowdrey Lecture at Lords and became the youngest person and the first current international player to deliver that lecture, which was widely praised by the cricketing community.
September 12th 2011
More Accolades
Sangakkara was named the ODI Cricketer of the Year, wicket keeper-captain of the ICC World XI Test team, and won the ICC People's Choice Award for the second year running.
November 7th 2011
The First Man Of The Series
Sangakkara was named the Man of the Series in Test series with Pakistan in 2011-12, his first such award. He accumulated 516 runs in three matches. However, Pakistan ended up winning the series 1-0.
February 5th 2014
First Triple Ton
Sangakkara hit his first triple ton and his highest Test score till date against Bangladesh in 2014. His score of 319 in the first innings of the second Test, made him only the third Sri Lankan after Sanath Jayasuria and Mahela Jayawardena to hit a triple hundred. He scored a gritty 105 runs in the second innings as the match ended in a draw.
April 6th 2014
The Purple Patch
Sangakkara had a successful 2014. He amassed 245 runs in five innings in the Asia Cup. Later in the final of the World T20, he scored an unbeaten 51 in 33 balls in the final against India to help Sri Lanka win only their second ICC trophy since 1996. Sanga subsequently retired from T20 cricket.
December 13th 2014
Top-Notch Form
In the 7-match ODI series at home against England in November-December 2014, Sangakkara surpassed 13,000 ODI runs and became the fourth player in history to achieve this feat. In the same series, he scored his 20th ODI ton and became the second Sri Lankan batsman after Sanath Jayasuriya and the 9th overall to do so.
December 16th 2014
One Last Time At Home
Sangakkara's final ODI innings on home soil was played on 13 December 2014 in the last match of England ODI series. He scored only 33 in that game but recieved a warm send-off from the crowd and his teammates.
January 4th 2015
Pre-World Cup Form
Sangakkara hit his 11th double ton against New Zealand in January 2015. He also surpassed 12,000 runs in Test cricket, becoming the first Sri Lankan and 5th overall to achieve that mark. He was also signed by Surrey for the 2015 and 2016 seasons.
March 1st 2015
World Cup Party
Sangakkara became the second highest run scorer in ODIs surpassing Ricky Ponting on February 14 2015. Twelve days later, he scored his 22nd ton in his 400th ODI appearance and shared two double century stands in the World Cup. He then smashed another hundred, his 23rd, off just 70 balls, the fastest by a Sri Lankan in World Cups. He also surpassed 14,000 ODI runs in the competition and then after hitting a century against Scotland became the first batsman in World Cup history to score 4 consecutive hundreds.
March 18th 2015
Final ODI Innings
Sri Lanka bowed out of the World Cups in the quarter-final against South Africa on March 18, 2015. Sangakkara scored only 45 runs. It was his and Mahela Jayawardene's final ODI.
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