Celebrating Sangakkara: The Sri Lankan Cricket Legend's Legacy Turns 47

Kumar Sangakkara, Sri Lanka's iconic wicketkeeper-batter, celebrates his 47th birthday. Sangakkara is hailed as one of cricket's finest, with remarkable statistics across formats. His career highlights include being the top-run scorer for Sri Lanka in Tests and ODIs, and winning multiple international cricket titles, including the 2014 T20 World Cup.

On Sunday, Sri Lanka's cricket legend Kumar Sangakkara celebrated his 47th birthday. Renowned as one of the greatest wicketkeeper-batters of all time, Sangakkara was pivotal to a Sri Lankan 'golden generation' that spanned from the early 2000s to the early 2010s, following their historic 1996 World Cup win.

Sangakkara's Test career is illustrious, with 12,400 runs scored across 134 matches at an average of 57.40. He notched up 38 centuries and 52 half-centuries. As Sri Lanka's top scorer in Tests, Sangakkara held 182 catches and made 20 stumpings, contributing to Sri Lanka's victory in the 2001-02 Asian Test Championship. His iconic 624-run partnership with Mahela Jayawardene in 2006 remains the highest in Test cricket history.

In the One Day Internationals (ODIs), Sangakkara made formidable contributions, amassing 14,234 runs in 404 ODIs at an average of 41.98. He's the second-highest run-scorer in ODIs and instrumental in Sri Lanka's campaigns in the 2007 and 2011 ICC Cricket World Cups, and the shared ICC Champions Trophy win in 2002. His T20 International career is marked by 1,382 runs in 56 matches, including his role in Sri Lanka's 2014 T20 World Cup victory.

(With inputs from agencies.)