COLOMBO: Sri Lankan great Kumar Sangakkara will quit international cricket during the Test series against India, the island nation’s most prolific batsman said on Saturday.

“I have decided to call it a day...[after] the second Test of the India series,” the 37-year-old, who retired from 50-over cricket after Sri Lanka’s World Cup campaign this year, told reporters on the sidelines of the second Test against Pakistan at the P. Sara Oval in Colombo.

“The original plan was to retire from all international cricket after the World Cup but...following a discussion with the previous selection committee, I gave my word that I would be available for these two series.

“But at the same time I said that I would be unable to play six Test matches,” he said. “I agreed to play four more Tests.”

India arrive in early August to play three Tests in Sri Lanka but the dates and the venues have not been finalised.

Sangakkara, the current world leading Test run-getter, said he will also skip the third and final Test of the ongoing series against Pakistan starting in Pallekele on July 3.

Sangakkara made his international debut in 2000 and is currently playing his 132nd Test against Pakistan, having amassed more than 12,000 runs at an average of over 54 and including 38 centuries.

The left-hander is one short of Australian great Donald Bradman’s record of 12 double centuries in Tests.

His ODI record is no less impressive, having amassed 14,234 runs in 404 matches, averaging nearly 42 and including 25 centuries.

He quit One-day Internationals after the World Cup in Australia and New Zealand and retired from Twenty20 Internationals last year after becoming part of Sri Lanka’s World Twenty20 champion side.

“I don’t want to prolong my career for records,” said Sangakkara. “I don’t want to extend my career for individual records. This is the time to go.”

In the first Test against Pakistan in Galle, Sangakkara hit a 50 in the first innings — his 52nd half-century — and 18 in the second when Sri Lanka were shot out for 206 to lose by 10 wickets.

He fell for 34 in the first innings of the ongoing second Test.

Sangakkara had hammered 203 against New Zealand in Wellington in January to continue a prolific streak that saw him make 221 against Pakistan and 319 against Bangladesh last year.

“I am going to miss playing for Sri Lanka a lot,” he said. “I had the time of my life playing for Sri Lanka. I enjoyed playing every format but donning whites for Sri Lanka has been special.

“I can walk away happy that good days outweigh the disappointments.”

Asked when he first thought of retiring, Sangakkara said: “My father asked me a couple of years ago ‘don’t you think it’s time to think of retirement?’ I was shocked.

“But it struck home that it was time to think of the future.”

Sangakkara added his two-year contract with English county Surrey did not hasten his decision to retire from Tests, as he dismissed the idea of becoming a coach after retirement with a laugh saying he would ‘make a bad coach’.

“I don’t know if I will have the patience for that,” he added.

He predicted a bright future for the young Sri Lankan team under Angelo Mathews and urged fans to have patience with them.

“There is a lot of talent and ability in the dressing room,” Sangakkara said. “Angelo is a fantastic cricketer and captain. He is the ideal man to lead Sri Lanka.”

Published in Dawn, June 28th, 2015

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