“I have decided to call it a day on my international career during the second Test of the Indian series”
Image courtesy of: ESPNcricinfo
Sri Lanka wicketkeeper-batsman Kumar Sangakkara has confirmed that he will retire from international cricket after the second Test against India.
Sangakkara also revealed that he will not play in the third Test of the ongoing series against Pakistan as he will travel to England to represent Surrey. However, he added that he will return to Sri Lanka in time for the first Test against India.
“I have decided to call it a day on my international career during the second Test of the Indian series,” Sangakkara said after stumps on the third day of the second Test in Colombo. “This was the commitment I had made with the previous selection committee. I had originally planned to retire after the World Cup, but following discussions with the previous selectors, I gave the commitment that I will be available for these two series.
“At the same time I said that I would be unable to play six Test matches, but I could do four, and if that was okay, and I would give 100 percent of my commitment to these four Tests. Once they said this was okay, I decided that I would extend my career.”
With the second Test against India likely to take place in Colombo, there have been mounting calls for it to be moved to Sangakkara’s home town of Kandy. However, Sri Lanka Cricket (SLC) have not said anything in regards to switching the venues for the Test series.
Sangakkara admitted that playing his final Test for Sri Lanka in Asgiriya, where he grew up playing school cricket for Trinity College, would be an ideal way to end his international career. But, he knows that is highly unlikely to happen as the ground facilities in Asgiriya are considered to be inadequate for international cricket.
“I am actually not sure where the venues are,” Sangakkara said. “I would love to choose where I am going to end, but that’s not going to be possible. I have to play wherever the matches are.
“I watched Muttiah Muralitharan play his last Test Match in Galle. Murali is from Kandy and we both grew up there. Kandy would have loved to say goodbye to Murali. I have had so much good fortune in my career, and I can’t ask for everything. Sometimes you have to just do the best you can with what’s there. If I don’t get a chance to play my last Test in Kandy so be it. I will be disappointed, but that can’t be helped.
“Asgiriya would have been perfect. I remember when Test cricket went away from Asgiriya, I was disappointed as a player. But I understand that facilities and surface and all these things matter. It’s not going to be at Asgiriya.”
Sangakkara also made it clear that his decision to play two Tests in the ongoing series against Pakistan and the upcoming series against India has nothing to do with his contract with Surrey.
“My request to play two Tests in each series is nothing to do with the Surrey commitment,” he said. “Any county understands that your country commitment comes first. Even if I go now and say, ‘Listen, I am not coming. I want to play for Sri Lanka,’ there are no issues. I have signed a two-year contract with leeway to come and go whenever the national duty comes.”