Last year it was Mahela Jayawardene who called time on his international Test career after the Pakistan series and now it is Kumar Sangakkara who stated at a press conference that he will be retiring from the longest format of the game after the second Test match against India.
Sangakkara has had a prolific career so far. When Jayawardene retired from Tests last year, Sangakkara too wanted to retire. But he later felt that Sri Lanka might find it hard during the transition period. Thus he delayed his retirement from Tests after retiring from ODI and Twenty20 formats post the ICC World Cup 2015 in Australia.
"I will call it quits after the second Test match against India. I had originally planned to retire after the World Cup but I agreed to extend for a year. I wish I could keep on playing, but I think this is my time to go. I've had the time of my life playing for Sri Lanka and I enjoyed playing all formats of the game, I had the time of my life. I've had regrets, bad times and all of that, but overall it has been a great experience," Sangakkara stated at a press conference on Saturday.
Sangakkara so far has 12,271 runs under his belt at an astonishing average of 58.43. He has already scored 38 centuries which is the second highest after Sachin Tendulkar who has 51. He also has 10 double centuries to his name and he is just one double century away from equalling the record of the legendary batsman Sir Don Bradman of Australia.
"The dates have been postponed once and i hope it won't be postponed again. I would love to be able to choose where I end, Candy is my hometown, I would like to finish there, but I've had so many things in my career that I can't ask for everything," Sangakkara added.
Sangakkara also said that the future of Sri Lankan cricket is in good hands and requested the fans to be patient. He also urged the fans to give some time to the youngsters
"Angelo Mathews is the ideal man to lead the future of Sri Lankan cricket. There are a bunch of young talents and in a year from here, they'll come a long way," Sangakkara said.
