Kumar Sangakkara scored his fourth Test century in his last six innings against Bangladesh to put Sri Lanka in a comfortable position at the end of the opening day‘s play in the second Test in Chittagong on Tuesday. Sangakkara, who ended the day on 160 not out and is the leading scorer against the Tigers in Tests, began the purple patch last year during Bangladesh’s visit to Sri Lanka, when he hit twin centuries in the drawn first Test in Galle.
Sangakkara completed a hat-trick of centuries in the first innings of the second Test in Colombo to set up a seven-wicket win, helping Sri Lanka win the otherwise keenly-contested series 1-0.
He missed out on the three-figure mark in the first Test of the return series in Dhaka even though Sri Lanka enjoyed a run-fest in amassing 730-6, but the veteran left-hander did not take long to join the party.
With his sublime effort, the former Sri Lankan captain prevented the Bangladeshi bowlers from gaining any momentum despite making a positive start to the game.
Flawless throughout the innings, Sangakkara struck 19 fours and three sixes and shared 178 runs for the third wicket with fellow veteran Mahela Jayawardene to thwart Bangladesh after they removed the openers for 49.
In scoring his sixth Test century against Bangladesh in 15 Tests overall, Sangakkara surpassed Sachin Tendulkar and Jayawardene, who until this game had shared the honour of scoring the most Test centuries against the Tigers with five each.
His 34th Test hundred also drew him level with retired legends Sunil Gavaskar and Brian Lara for fifth on the all-time list of century-makers.
The four players above them – Tendulkar (51 centuries), Jacques Kallis (45), Ricky Ponting (41) and Rahul Dravid (36) – are all retired, meaning Sangakkara is now the leading century-maker among active Test players.
The only man currently challenging him for the homour is Jayawardene, whose unbeaten 203 in the Dhaka Test has briefly tied him with Sangakkara on 33 for the most Test centuries for Sri Lanka.
Sangakkara has maintained a healthy competition with Jayawardene throughout his career, which both say has only benefitted Sri Lanka cricket team.
Dinesh Chandimal, the vice-captain of the touring squad, summed up how they have also passed their knowledge on to the next generation of cricketers to keep Sri Lanka competitive at the Test match level.
‘They are wily old foxes,’ he said of Sangakkara and Jayawardene on Tuesday.
‘We have to learn a lot from them. They work hard in the practices and they always talk about cricket, even when they are off the field.’
-With New Age input
