On Wednesday kumar Sangakarra wrote his name into the record books, it wasn’t for the innings of 63 that enabled that 39 year old to rewrite history, although being only the fourth player to score 13,000 runs is a very respectable achievement but it’s Sangakarra’s record behind the stumps we’re talking about.
Just for good measure the 39 year old took another catch to take his career tally to 474 dismissals. A testament to Sangakarra is that he is keeping Dinesh Chandimal out of the side (no pun intended). Sangakarra is not getting any younger, so the former captain who has also studied law can be happy with his achievements.
As for Sangakarra’s record it self that he now has outright, it’s going to be difficult for this record to be broken. The nearest challenger to the Sri Lankan is Mark Boucher with 424 – but with the South African now retired it won’t be Boucher who will take the record (we can ‘Bouch’ for that).
The player who is closest to this record and still playing is Indian captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni, or ‘Ice Cool Dhoni’ as he is also known is way behind Sangakarra’s impressive 474 dismissals. MS Dhoni has 312 dismissals to his name, and is the only player realistically who can catch Kumar Sangakarra’s record – but even for the Indian captain this will be difficult, 162 dismissals and counting to make up will be extremely difficult if not impossible.
Kumar Sangakarra is still is a very talented player and a great leader despite not being captain – and lets not forget what a great run scorer he is as well ( Sangakarra’s stats back that up). The modern day wicket keeper these days seems to be a batsmen first and wicket keeper second, where as Sangakarra over the years has been immaculate in all departments of his game.
The former Sri Lanakan captain’s record we feel won’t be beaten for some time, if ever and it’s due to one fact – and that’s the emergence of batsmen who do wicketkeeping, rather than wicketkeepers who can bat. Pakistan’s Umar Akmal is a prime example of that.
As a testament to Adam Gilchrist, the Australian’s record was only beaten on Wednesday, I hope as a testament to Sangakarra who has been a brilliant servant of the game, that he keeps the record for a very long time. With Sangakarra’s nearest challenger some 160 dismissals behind, Kumar Sangakarra’s record we feel will not be broken – or at least anytime soon.
The Bearded Captain 