Kumar Sangakkara - how do you rate him in Tests?

[Joseph Gomes]

Imo Sangakkara is the most underrated of the elite ATG batsmen. A lot acknowledge his existence, but many don't even put him on same tier as Ponting and Dravid, let alone Tendulkar and Lara (the two most praised batsmen since 1990s)

Sanga averaged over 34 in every country, and scored a ton everywhere except in West Indies (who were not a notable team during his career). Not going to post any more stats since it's all available online (and he's reitred).

So how do you rate Sanga from your personal observation? Same level Tendulkar and Lara? Or Ponting/Dravid/Kallis? Or even higher/lower than everybody mentioned above?

I personally think Sangakkara was the best test batsman from 2007-2015. And not just going by the stats, I got this aura from him every time he came out to bat. Don't think he was as influential as Lara or Tendulkar though.

 

[Ab Fan]

Tendulkar
Lara
Ponting
Kallis
Sangakkara
Dravid

That's the order.

 

[Hitman]

Outside Asia (excluding Zimbabwe)-

Innings - 66; Runs - 2764; Ave - 44.58; SR - 49.99; 100’s - 16

Link: https://stats.espncricinfo.com/ci/e...orderby=default;template=results;type=batting

 

[DeadlyVenom]

A mighty fine player who often had to wear multiple hats in addition to batting. Take away his non WK stats and he has a monstrous records.

If you are going to exclude Zimbabwe from stats then its only fair to also exclude Bangladesh and then taking home/away records for all players during that time.

But we won't selectively cut stats that way because a certain players home average drops below 50.

 

[andy0204]

Outside Asia (excluding Zimbabwe)-

Innings - 66; Runs - 2764; Ave - 44.58; SR - 49.99; 100’s - 16

Link: https://stats.espncricinfo.com/ci/e...orderby=default;template=results;type=batting

Not a bad for no 3 which is basically batting as an opener and besides he has gotten very opportunities due to his country.

 

[TheSultan]

Very underrated, one of the best of all time. We can dissect every player’s record. Home/Away, minnow, non minnow.

At the end of the day if you score the number of runs he did with the average that he did. Sometimes as a keeper, as a leader, captain etc. what more can anyone ask for. Sri Lankans should be very proud of him.

 

[Rellu_Katta]

for me, he will be in my all time XI as a keeper batsman... rate him much much much higher than Gilly in there

amazing batsmen and a leader, he for me, should have been the captain throughout his established career

on of my all time fav non-Pak player ....

 

[Firebat]

One of my favourite players ever, so beautiful to watch. Below Ponting, above Kallis and Dravid IMO.

 

[Markhor]

Easily an ATG. His batting numbers would've been even better without the burden of gloves.

We see Sanga as an eloquent MCC President and commentator now but make no mistake, he was a fierce competitor and not afraid of sledging anybody.

Unfortunately players from SL are typically underrated because of their two noisy SC neighbours with more sizeable cricket medias.

 

[Joseph Gomes]

Outside Asia (excluding Zimbabwe)-

Innings - 66; Runs - 2764; Ave - 44.58; SR - 49.99; 100’s - 16

Link: https://stats.espncricinfo.com/ci/e...orderby=default;template=results;type=batting

That's pretty damn good, considering his worst country outside Asia was West Indies. So he did well everywhere else against better teams.

 

[subshakerz]

Tendulkar
Lara
Ponting
Kallis
Sangakkara
Dravid

That's the order.

Sanga is above Kallis and Dravid as he is a more attacking batsman with a comparable record.

 

[sweep_shot]

Sanga was very good in Test. But, not an ATG.

A Sri Lankan ATG though.

 

[Ab Fan]

Sanga is above Kallis and Dravid as he is a more attacking batsman with a comparable record.

Kallis scored those many runs in South African conditions which are generally bowlers friendly so I give him the edge. Also, Sanga's stats are inflated by minnow bashing more, not his problem but just giving Kallis a small edge for that as he was a good bowler too in first half.

 

[Joseph Gomes]

Sanga was very good in Test. But, not an ATG.

A Sri Lankan ATG though.

Who exactly are ATG by your definition? What criteria is Sangakkara missing? He averaged 60 in Australia, 41 in England, 61 in New Zealand and 35.75 in South Africa. So an average of 45.92 in SENA countries with 7 tons (from 30 tests).

For comparison,

Dravid averaged 48.54 with 10 tons from 47 matches in SENA
Ponting average 34.76 with 2 tons from 23 matches in Asia (excld Bangladesh)
Kallis averaged 57.24 with 6 tons from 19 matches in Asia (excld Bangladesh)

So he's about par with Dravid, worse than Kallis, and much better than Ponting.

 

[Ab Fan]

Who exactly are ATG by your definition? What criteria is Sangakkara missing? He averaged 60 in Australia, 41 in England, 61 in New Zealand and 35.75 in South Africa. So an average of 45.92 in SENA countries with 7 tons (from 30 tests).

For comparison,

Dravid averaged 48.54 with 10 tons from 47 matches in SENA
Ponting average 34.76 with 2 tons from 23 matches in Asia (excld Bangladesh)
Kallis averaged 57.24 with 6 tons from 19 matches in Asia (excld Bangladesh)

So he's about par with Dravid, worse than Kallis, and much better than Ponting.

Windies should also be counted. Ambrose and Walsh were there and so was Roach and Edwards later.

 

[James]

One of the greatest batsmen of all time.

A mighty fine gentleman also.

 

[Joseph Gomes]

Windies should also be counted. Ambrose and Walsh were there and so was Roach and Edwards later.

I don't know how to classify WI. It might be closer to SENA conditions than Asia (?). You tell me

Maybe I could include WI for every player

 

[Sunzi]

Model Pro. ATG. Anything else is armchair statto.

 

[Mamoon]

Greatest Asian batsman of all time after Tendulkar, Kohli and Gavaskar. Better than Miandad and Dravid.

Sri Lanka’s finest by a long margin, followed by Aravinda.

 

[as-95]

Best asian test batsman of all time. Tendulkar may have more runs, but its only because of playing a ridiculous amount of games. Sangakkara has a superior runs per innings record than Tendulkar and was more impactful in a weaker team...

 

[subshakerz]

Kallis scored those many runs in South African conditions which are generally bowlers friendly so I give him the edge. Also, Sanga's stats are inflated by minnow bashing more, not his problem but just giving Kallis a small edge for that as he was a good bowler too in first half.

Kallis also was somewhat poor in England despite playing many tests there. Kallis' stats are also somewhat inflated too. Bowling is irrelevant.

 

[subshakerz]

Greatest Asian batsman of all time after Tendulkar, Kohli and Gavaskar. Better than Miandad and Dravid.

Sri Lanka’s finest by a long margin, followed by Aravinda.

At this point, how can you say Kohli is better than Sanga? At his current trajectory unless he peaks again, Kohli will end up less rated than Dravid and Miandad.

 

[Ab Fan]

I don't know how to classify WI. It might be closer to SENA conditions than Asia (?). You tell me

Maybe I could include WI for every player

SENAW..Outside Asia. There is enough for their pacers with the new ball to test the Asian batsman with swing, bounce and pace as well. Some games are spin friendly but they never really had the spinners to make the SENA teams feel like a challenge similar to facing any Asian team.

 

[Ab Fan]

Kallis also was somewhat poor in England despite playing many tests there. Kallis' stats are also somewhat inflated too. Bowling is irrelevant.

I would say the difference between Sangakkara and Kallis is miniscule to really have any debate on that. For each their own. In ODIs, Sanga was better bat surely.

 

[Mamoon]

At this point, how can you say Kohli is better than Sanga? At his current trajectory unless he peaks again, Kohli will end up less rated than Dravid and Miandad.

Sangakkara never had a truly dominant series in Australia/England/South Africa. He hasn’t come close to replicating what Kohli did in Australia in 2014 (4 hundreds in 4 Tests). In fact, Kohli’s 2018 series in England was also better than any series by Sangakkara in the above mentioned countries.

Sangakkara also benefited from super flat home pitches. SSC Colombo is arguably the flattest pitch in the world. Sri Lankan pitches are generally very flat anyway.

On the contrary, most of Kohli’s home series in the last 6-7 years have been on turning wickets with the ball spinning from the first session. It is much harder to score big on such pitches.

Overall, Kohli is the better Test batsman and it is not even a comparison if you make it an all-format comparison.

 

[topspin]

Sangakkara never had a truly dominant series in Australia/England/South Africa. He hasn’t come close to replicating what Kohli did in Australia in 2014 (4 hundreds in 4 Tests). In fact, Kohli’s 2018 series in England was also better than any series by Sangakkara in the above mentioned countries.

Sangakkara also benefited from super flat home pitches. SSC Colombo is arguably the flattest pitch in the world. Sri Lankan pitches are generally very flat anyway.

On the contrary, most of Kohli’s home series in the last 6-7 years have been on turning wickets with the ball spinning from the first session. It is much harder to score big on such pitches.

Overall, Kohli is the better Test batsman and it is not even a comparison if you make it an all-format comparison.

Agreed, good jawaab and good analysis.

 

[subshakerz]

Sangakkara never had a truly dominant series in Australia/England/South Africa. He hasn’t come close to replicating what Kohli did in Australia in 2014 (4 hundreds in 4 Tests). In fact, Kohli’s 2018 series in England was also better than any series by Sangakkara in the above mentioned countries.

Sangakkara also benefited from super flat home pitches. SSC Colombo is arguably the flattest pitch in the world. Sri Lankan pitches are generally very flat anyway.

On the contrary, most of Kohli’s home series in the last 6-7 years have been on turning wickets with the ball spinning from the first session. It is much harder to score big on such pitches.

Overall, Kohli is the better Test batsman and it is not even a comparison if you make it an all-format comparison.

This is a bit unfair. Sanga only play 2/3 match series in these countries unlike Kohli who regularly plays 4 match series in Australia/England.

Regardless, I would take Sanga's 2006 series in NZ against peak Shane Bond over any series of Kohli. And Sanga's 192 in Australia in 2007 is a better innings than Kohli has ever played.

By that series count, Dravid is better than Kohli. As he has more mega series.

If Kohli continues to flop, his standing should logically go down too.

 

[GreenBee]

Sangakkara is basically what Babar Azam may become if he carries on with his current form for 10 more years. An absolute lower rung ATG for me, you can't argue against numbers.