Kumar Sangakkara, A Special Kind of Special!

Kumar Sangakkara is an omnipresent topic in Sri Lankan cricket. Rarely a period goes by without reference to this great. That's because he was special. But how special was he? Stratospherically special, it seems. Here's why.

As per "Test Cricket, A History," a book that narrates the history of the game in a way, never been described before,

Sangakkara has scored 17% of the total runs Sri Lankan team has scored during his career of 134 matches.

Yes, that's almost when the rest of the team scored 5 runs, Sangakkara has scored one on his own. That's 1/6th of the team runs.

That's places him 10th in history when the percentage of runs scored by an individual is measured against the total runs scored by the team during their respective careers. On face value, that's phenomenal. But there's more to it.

The list has many greats of the past. But history suggests, that as the game evolved and became a game of professionals compared to the amateur nature in the past, the gap between the brilliant batters and the rest significantly narrowed. Because of this reason, Brian Lara is the only batter in this list belonging to the post 1900s era, other than Sangakkara. But Lara's career almost span across a decade in which the West Indies crumbled from 1997 onwards. Sangakkara's case was different.

This disparity couldn't have been more visible than in the Sri Lanka vs West Indies series in 2001, where Lara owned Murali and the rest Pilling up 600 plus runs yet the visitors lost 3-0, while a young Sangakaara stood behind Lara. The genius of Lara left Sri Lanka without an answer, but it didnt matter as rest of the West Indian batting was way below par. Lara and the rest of his mates were chalk and cheese in batting, whereas Sanga was clearly a cherry dropped on top of rich-icing. The possibility of differentiation, standing out in never seen like way before, was much more difficult, if not impossible in Sangakkara's case.

When Sanga made his debut, our batting was in the good hands of the likes of Sanath, Marvan, Hashan and Mahela. None needs any explanation to highlight how good they were by their own standards. Especially at home. As time passed, Mahela became a legend on his own and Sri Lanka were blessed with the likes of Thilan, Angelo, Dilshan and Prasanna Jayawardene. Even the likes of Vaas and Kulasekera contributed runs down the order. The Sri Lankan batting was rich. Insanely rich compared to the West Indies. Yet, Sangakkara managed to clock in nearly 17% of the total runs. Context is the king. This context, adds insane aura to the brilliance of one of the most loved men in our game.

Sangakkara wasn't just special but stratospherically special. Also Read, Bowled by Bold Brilliance: How Lasith Malinga’s Bold Gamble Paid Off.

Buy Now Killer By Malinga