On this day in 2015: India spoil Sangakkara’s farewell Test
Kumar Sangakkara is one of the best cricketers that Sri Lanka has produced and went on to establish himself as one of the finest wicketkeeper-batters to have played the game. While 2015 was his best year on the 22 yards where the southpaw registered back-to-back centuries in the World Cup. Unfortunately for him, he was miserably let down by his team as they crashed out in the quarterfinals.
Sangakkara announced his retirement from white-ball cricket then and it was on this very day in 2015 that the Indian team played a spoilsport in the Lankan legend’s farewell Test match with a comprehensive win.
When Kumar Sangakkara played his final Test match
Sri Lanka and India locked horns in the second Test at the P Sara Oval Stadium in Colombo. The hosts were coming into this contest with a 1-0 lead. Batting first India posted 393 with KL Rahul top-scoring with 108 along with stellar contributions from Rohit Sharma (79) and skipper Virat Kohli (78).
Sri Lanka in reply scored 306 courtesy of a brilliant 106 from Angelo Mathews. Sangakkara could only manage 32 before being dismissed by Ravichandran Ashwin. The visitors in their second innings capitalized on their lead exceptionally well and ended up posting a mammoth total of 325/8 before declaring their innings. Ajinkya Rahane top-scored with 126 while Murali Vijay contributed with 82 runs.
Thus, the hosts had to chase a target of 413 runs in order to seal the Test series. Nonetheless, it was too much to ask for in the end as the Indian spinners made merry in the fourth innings on what was supposedly a turning track. R Ashwin took 5/42 while Amit Mishra finished with figures of 3/29 as the Lankans were skittled for just 134.
For the hosts only Dimuth Karunaratne was the top-scorer with 46 as India registered an emphatic win by 278 runs to level the three-match series 1-1. In his final Test innings, Kumar Sangakkara only scored 18 runs before being caught by Murali Vijay off Ashwin as his glorious international career came to an end.
Post retirement, Kumar Sangakkara has given back to the game as a broadcaster and cricket pundit as well as by coaching and being the Rajasthan Royals’ director of cricket. The inaugural edition winners had an excellent IPL 2022 where they made the finals before going down to the new entrants Gujarat Titans.
