Rediff.com« Back to articlePrint this article

Stats: Why Sanga is best player in the sub-continent

Last updated on: August 24, 2015 06:23 IST

Sri Lanka's Kumar Sangakkara (right) shakes hands with Indian players after his dismissal during Day 4 of the second Test in Colombo. Photograph: Dinuka Liyanawatte/Reuters

India have one foot in the door in the levelling the three-match Test series against Sri Lanka at the P Sara Oval in Colombo after reducing the hosts to 72-2.

- Scorecard

Sri Lanka, who were chasing a mammoth 413 runs for win, lost Kaushal Silva and legendary Kumar Sangakkara.

After coming to the ground amid a standing ovation and guard of honour by the visiting Indian team, Sangakkara was done in by a Ravichandran Ashwin turner and caught at gully by Murali Vijay. The visiting players, including captain Virat Kohli, then shook hands with the departing Sangakkara as his family looked on from the stands.

This was after India, who had taken a first innings lead of 87, rode on a century from Ajinkya Rahane to declare their innings at 325-8, thus setting up a daunting 413 runs for a win. 

- More numbers from the second Test: Day 1 ' Day 2 ' Day 3

Rajneesh Gupta presents interesting numbers from Day 4:

5
Number of times India have posted 300-plus totals in both innings of a Test against Sri Lanka – the earlier such instances were at Colombo SSC in 1993 and 1999, and at Ahmedabad in 2005 and 2009.
4
Number of times in a row Kumar Sangakkara was dismissed by Ravi Ashwin – most consecutive dismissals for him off a particular bowler.
57.40
Kumar Sangakkara’s batting average – highest among subcontinent players with at least 1000 runs.
102
Most number of overs Sri Lanka have batted against India in the fourth innings of a Test to earn a draw. They need to bat for a maximum of 110 overs in this game.
14
Number of Tests after which an Indian batsman scored a hundred at number three. The last batsman before Ajinkya Rahane to do so was Cheteshwar Pujara against South Africa at Johannesburg in December 2013.
327
Runs scored in the day – most on the fourth day of a Test at P Sara Oval. The previous record was of 316 between Sri Lanka and South Africa in 2006.
0
Number of times India have lost a Test while defending a fourth innings target of 400 or more.

 

 

Rajneesh Gupta