COLOMBO : Former Sri Lanka captain Kumar Sangakkara, widely recognized as one of the greatest wicketkeeper-batsmen in the world, has been inducted into the International Cricket Council (ICC) Hall of Fame.
The ICC on Sunday June 13 announced a special edition intake of 10 cricket icons into the ICC Hall of Fame to celebrate the prestigious history of Test cricket, and to coincide with the first ever ICC World Test Championship Final.
“The 10 legends of the game to be inducted have all made a significant contribution to the history of Test cricket, and join an illustrious list of ICC Hall of Famers, taking the total number to 103 as a result of this intake,” the ICC said in a statement.
Kumar Sangakkara of Sri Lanka played 134 Tests, scored 12,400 runs at 57.40, took 182 catches and 20 stumpings, and was grace personified at the crease. Sangakkara ended his career as the most prolific run-scorer his country had ever known, with double-hundreds flowing from his bat with consummate ease. In 2014 he struck 319 and 105 in the same Test match against Bangladesh and in 2017 fell just 16 runs short of striking six successive centuries in first-class cricket.
The special edition ICC Hall of Fame show was streamed LIVE on ICC digital channels and was hosted by Alan Wilkins. The show featured interviews with some of the inductees and insights from a specialist panel of guests including Lisa Sthalekar and Lawrence Booth of Wisden. Kumar Sangakkara and Andy Flower also made an appearance on the show, giving their reactions to their entry into this league of legends.
