Kumar Sangakkara joins elite 12,000-runs club Saturday Jan 03,2015

 

Sri Lankan batsman Kumar Sangakkara joined an elite group of cricketers Saturday Jan 03,2015 when he became only the fifth to make 12,000 runs in his career.

 

Kumar Sangakkara, who early in his innings became the fifth and fastest player to reach 12,000 Test runs, surpassing the likes of Sachin Tendulkar and Ricky Ponting, batted for nearly 7 hours and faced 306 deliveries for the score 203 Runs

It was the 10th highest score of Sangakkara's illustrious Test career and the 11th time he has reached 200, putting him one behind Australian legend Don Bradman for the most double tons

Kumar Sangakkara has been the fastest to 8,000, 9,000, 10,000, 11,000 and 12,000 Test runs. What puts him ahead of his Sri Lankan counterparts is his average of over 58, only after Bradman (99.94) and Herbert Sutcliffe (60.73) - also the highest for an Asian.

Kumar Sangakkara(37) reached the milestone when he knocked Trent Boult square for two in Sri Lanka`s first innings of the second Test against New Zealand in Wellington.

Kumar Sangakkara started the two-Test New Zealand series on 11,988 runs and after scoring six and one in the first Test in Christchurch, he was determined to get the final five in Wellington.

Note
Since launching his Test career in 2000, Sangakkara has made an impressive average of over 58.00, including 37 centuries in 130 Tests. His highest score was 319 against Bangladesh.

Kumar Sangakkara is now number four on the all-time scoring list, although his average is higher even than Indian great Sachin Tendulkar, who tops the ranking with 15,921 runs in 200 Tests at 53.78.

Australian Ricky Ponting (13,378 at 51.85), Jacques Kallis from South Africa (13,289 at 55.37) and India`s Rahul Dravid (13,288 at 52.31) round out the top five.

Last month, Kumar Sangakkara became only the fourth batsman to surpass the 13,000-run mark in ODI's achieving the feat in his 386th match.
The ODI list is also headed by Tendulkar, who made 18,426 runs in 463 matches, ahead of Ponting with 13,704 runs from 375 ODIs and Sanath Jayasuriya of Sri Lanka, who has 13,430 runs in 445 games.