The Sri Lankan champ seems unstoppable at the World Cup with four centuries in a row, the first man to do so in the history of ODIs. Rajneesh Gupta makes the case.
Sri Lanka's batting star Kumar Sangakkara is bowing out on a high!
The wicket-keeper batsman, who will retire from One-Day Internationals at the end of the World Cup, is on a record-breaking spree.
Sangakkara created a new world record when he scored his fourth consecutive hundred in the ongoing ICC World Cup, against Scotland in Hobart, on Wednesday, March 11.
Never in the history of One-Day Internationals has a batsman scored four hundreds on the trot.
The sequence started with Sangakkara scoring an unbeaten 105 off 76 balls against Bangladesh, followed by an unbeaten 117 off 86 balls against England, 104 off 107 balls against Australia at Sydney and 124 off 95 balls against Scotland.
The 37-year-old left-hander will have a chance to extend his amazing run when Sri Lanka play the first quarter-final on March 18 at Sydney, with their opponents most likely to be South Africa.
Check out the batsmen who have hit most consecutive hundreds in ODIs:
| 100s | Batsman | Runs | Vs | Venue | Date |
| 4 | Kumar Sangakkara (SL) | 105* | Ban | Melbourne | 26-02-2015 |
| 117* | Eng | Wellington | 01-03-2015 | ||
| 104 | Aus | Sydney | 08-03-2015 | ||
| 124 | Scot | Hobart BO | 11-03-2015 | ||
| 3 | Zaheer Abbas (Pak) | 118 | Ind | Multan | 17-12-1982 |
| 105 | Ind | Lahore | 31-12-1982 | ||
| 113 | Ind | Karachi | 21-01-1983 | ||
| 3 | Saeed Anwar (Pak) | 107 | SL | Sharjah | 30-10-1993 |
| 131 | WI | Sharjah | 01-11-1993 | ||
| 111 | SL | Sharjah | 02-11-1993 | ||
| 3 | Herschelle Gibbs (SA) | 116 | Ken | Colombo RPS | 20-09-2002 |
| 116* | Ind | Colombo RPS | 25-09-2002 | ||
| 153 | Ban | Potchefstroom | 03-10-2002 | ||
| 3 | AB de Villiers (SA) | 114* | Ind | Gwalior | 24-02-2010 |
| 102* | Ind | Ahmedabad | 27-02-2010 | ||
| 102 | WI | North Sound | 22-05-2010 | ||
| 3 | Quinton de Kock (SA) | 134 | Ind | Johannesburg | 05-12-2013 |
| 106 | Ind | Durban | 08-12-2013 | ||
| 101 | Ind | Centurion | 11-12-2013 | ||
| 3 | Ross Taylor (NZ) | 112* | Ind | Hamilton | 28-01-2014 |
| 102 | Ind | Wellington | 31-01-2014 | ||
| 105* | Pak | Dubai | 08-12-2014 |
No other batsman had scored more than two consecutive hundreds in the World Cup before Sangakkara set the bar to a different level altogether.
Sangakkara's four hundreds in the 2015 edition are the most by any player in the single edition of a World Cup.
Three others -- Mark Waugh, Sourav Ganguly and Matthew Hayden -- had scored three hundreds in a single edition of the World Cup, but none of them did it in consecutive innings.
Most hundreds in a World Cup:
| 100s | Batsman | Runs | Vs | Venue | Date |
| 4 | Kumar Sangakkara (SL) | 105* | Ban | Melbourne | 26-02-2015 |
| 117* | Eng | Wellington | 01-03-2015 | ||
| 104 | Aus | Sydney | 08-03-2015 | ||
| 124 | Scot | Hobart BO | 11-03-2015 | ||
| 3 | Mark Waugh (Aus) | 130 | Ken | Visakhapatnam | 23-02-1996 |
| 126 | Ind | Mumbai WS | 27-02-1996 | ||
| 110 | NZ | Chennai | 11-03-1996 | ||
| 3 | Sourav Ganguly (Ind) | 112* | Nam | Pietermaritzburg | 23-02-2003 |
| 107* | Ken | Cape Town | 07-03-2003 | ||
| 111* | Ken | Durban | 20-03-2003 | ||
| 3 | Matthew Hayden (Aus) | 101 | SA | Basseterre | 24-03-2007 |
| 158 | WI | North Sound | 27-03-2007 | ||
| 103 | NZ | 20-04-2007 |
Sangakkara is, in fact, the first batsman to score four hundreds (on the trot or otherwise) in ANY series or tournament in ODI history.
During his 104 against Australia, Sangakkara completed 14,000 runs in the 50-over format, only the second batsman behind Sachin Tendulkar to do so.
Sangakkara's ODI aggregate currently stands at 1,487 runs from 36 World Cup games, the third highest run aggregate for any batsman in World Cups behind only Tendulkar and Ricky Ponting.
Sangakkara has the best batting average among the leading run-scorers in the World Cup as is evident from the following table:
Most runs in a World Cup:
| Mts | Runs | Hs | Avg | 100s | 50s | SR | |
| Sachin Tendulkar (Ind) | 45 | 2278 | 152 | 56.95 | 6 | 15 | 88.98 |
| Ricky Ponting (Aus) | 46 | 1743 | 140* | 45.87 | 5 | 6 | 79.95 |
| Kumar Sangakkara (SL) | 36 | 1487 | 124 | 57.19 | 5 | 7 | 88.83 |
| Brian Lara (WI) | 34 | 1225 | 116 | 42.24 | 2 | 7 | 85.90 |
| Sanath Jayasuriya (SL) | 38 | 1165 | 120 | 34.26 | 3 | 6 | 90.73 |
| Jacques Kallis (SA) | 36 | 1148 | 128* | 45.92 | 1 | 9 | 74.40 |
| Tillakaratne Dilshan (SL) | 26 | 1112 | 161* | 55.60 | 4 | 4 | 93.52 |
| Mahela Jayawardene (SL) | 39 | 1096 | 115* | 36.53 | 4 | 5 | 86.71 |
| Adam Gilchrist (Aus) | 31 | 1085 | 149 | 36.17 | 1 | 8 | 97.92 |
Sangakkara added another World Cup record during the game against Scotland.
His catch of Michael Leask gave Sangakkara his 53rd dismissal behind the stumps in World Cups -- one more than Adam Gilchrist, the previous record holder.
By next catching Matthew Cross he took his dismissal tally in World Cups to 54 -- the highest for any wicket-keeper in World Cup history.
Check out the most wicket-keeping dismissals in World Cups:
| Wicket-keeper | Matches | Dismissals | Catches | Stumpings |
| Kumar Sangakkara (SL) | 36 | 54 | 41 | 13 |
| Adam Gilchrist (Aus) | 31 | 52 | 45 | 7 |
| Brendon McCullum (NZ) | 30 | 32 | 30 | 2 |
| Mark Boucher (SA) | 25 | 31 | 31 | 0 |
| Moin Khan (Pak) | 20 | 30 | 23 | 7 |
| M S Dhoni (Ind) | 17 | 26 | 21 | 5 |
| Denesh Ramdin (WI) | 14 | 25 | 25 | 0 |
The left-hander also completed his 500 dismissals in ODIs when he caught Leask.
His tally includes 382 catches as wicket-keeper, 99 stumpings and 19 catches in the outfield.
During his 124 against Scotland, Sangakkara also completed 2,000 ODI runs on Australian grounds, becoming the first Asian and only the third non-Australian batsman to do so.
Among the leading overseas batsmen in Australia, Sangakkara has the highest batting average, best strike rate and most hundreds.
Most ODI runs on Australian grounds by a non-Australian:
| Mts | Runs | Hs | Avg | 100s | 50s | SR | |
| Desmond Haynes (WI) | 94 | 3067 | 123* | 36.51 | 4 | 22 | 59.16 |
| Viv Richards (WI) | 73 | 2769 | 153* | 44.66 | 3 | 24 | 84.55 |
| Kumar Sangakkara (SL) | 48 | 2038 | 128 | 46.32 | 5 | 11 | 84.88 |
| Javed Miandad (Pak) | 60 | 1913 | 89 | 35.43 | 0 | 15 | 59.52 |
| Brian Lara (WI) | 52 | 1901 | 156 | 40.45 | 4 | 13 | 70.88 |
| Gordon Greenidge (WI) | 43 | 1731 | 110* | 43.28 | 3 | 12 | 64.30 |
| Richie Richardson (WI) | 74 | 1661 | 81 | 26.37 | 0 | 15 | 55.83 |
| Mahela Jayawardene (SL) | 58 | 1620 | 120 | 31.76 | 1 | 13 | 81.41 |
| John Wright (NZ) | 57 | 1541 | 84 | 27.52 | 0 | 12 | 53.60 |
| Sachin Tendulkar (Ind) | 47 | 1491 | 117* | 34.67 | 1 | 10 | 75.19 |
| Tillakaratne Dilshan (SL) | 41 | 1494 | 161* | 45.27 | 4 | 7 | 86.36 |
From 2011 to 2014, Sangakkara has scored 1,000 or more runs in each calendar year.
He has already scored 817 runs in just 13 matches in 2015 and is soon set to become the first batsman to aggregate 1,000 or more runs in ODIs in FIVE consecutive years!
Sangakkara's run tally in ODIs (in each calendar year since 2011):
| Year | Mts | Runs | Hs | Avg | SR | 100 | 50 | 0 |
| 2011 | 27 | 1127 | 111 | 51.22 | 73.32 | 1 | 9 | 0 |
| 2012 | 31 | 1184 | 133 | 43.85 | 79.14 | 3 | 6 | 0 |
| 2013 | 25 | 1201 | 169 | 63.21 | 89.56 | 2 | 10 | 3 |
| 2014 | 28 | 1256 | 128 | 46.51 | 87.70 | 4 | 8 | 2 |
| 2015 | 13 | 817 | 124 | 90.77 | 110.10 | 5 | 2 | 0 |
If he completes the landmark of 1,000 runs in 2015, Sangakkara will also equal Tendulkar's record of aggregating 1,000 or more ODI runs in a calendar year on seven occasions, the most by any player in the 50-over format.
Batsmen scoring 1,000 runs in a calendar year on most occasions:
| Occasions | Player |
| 7 | Sachin Tendulkar (Ind) |
| 6 | Sourav Ganguly (Ind) |
| 6 | Ricky Ponting (Aus) |
| 6 | Kumar Sangakkara (SL) |
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