Among many legendary batters from Sri Lanka, one name stands out tall is former skipper Kumar Sangakkara. The classy left-handed batsman completely dominated the opposite teams during his playing days.
When the batting maestro bid farewell to international cricket, he was the highest run-scorer for Sri Lanka in Test cricket.
Sangakkara smashed as many as 11 double centuries in red-ball cricket, which is the second-highest after the legendary Sir Donald Bradman, who had hit 12 in his career. He carries a phenomenal average of 57.40, amassing 12,400 runs, with 319 being his best.
In ODIs, Sangakkara has scored 14,234 runs at an average of 42. The skilful strokemaker has 38 tons and 52 half-centuries to his credit in the longest format. While in the 50-over form, he hit 25 tons and 93 fifties.
But who, according to Sangakkara, was the most challenging bowler he faced in his glorious career. Well, in a video shared by the official Twitter handle of the International Cricket Council (ICC) on Thursday, the legendary Lankan batter termed former India spinner Anil Kumble as the one such bowler who gave him ‘sleepless nights.’
“Kumble has given me a few sleepless nights as a batsman,” said Sangakkara.
“He was not your orthodox leg-spinner. This big, tall, gangly bowler running in and bowling with very high arm action,” he added.
Sanga admitted that it wasn’t easy to score runs against the Karnataka legend as he used to ball fast with supreme accuracy.
“Bowling fast, bowling straight and accurately. It was not at all easy to get him away for runs. A lot of bounce… he had great pace on the ball, and if there was any rough on a length, the batsman had very little chance of getting away,” asserted the 43-year-old.
“When he took those 10 wickets against Pakistan, it was absolutely magnificent watching him. It was a great challenge to play against him. Lovely guy, very intense competitor but an absolute champion for India and world cricket,” concluded Sangakkara.
