Kumar Sangakkara scores a century of centuries

Kumar Sangakkara scores a century of centuries

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Sri Lankan legend Kumar Sangakkara has completed his 100th century in all first-class and List A cricket while batting for Surrey against Yorkshire in the Royal London One-Day Cup. With the century, Sangakkara became the 37th player to score 100 hundreds in one-day and first-class cricket.

Earlier, Sangakkara fell just 16 runs short of becoming the fourth player ever to score centuries in six successive first-class innings. Notwithstanding that failure, he continued his rich vein of form in the limited-overs tournament and with his 121-run innings, he helped Surrey reach the semi-final of the Royal London Cup.

“It felt pretty good, I wasn’t really thinking about that because I was just told about it when I walked in!” Sangakkara told Sky Sports.

 “I’ve been enjoying myself – I haven’t really stressed myself out, or frustrated myself by doing too much. I’ve had a good amount of rest away from the game.”

“The set-up at Surrey is excellent. They really understand what players need and it’s that kind of balance and playing in a team of good players and people that helps keep you focused and fresh.”

The legendary Southpaw has scored over 28,000 international runs, including 38 Test and 25 ODI centuries, and his retirement left a huge void in Sri Lankan cricket. But with a steely resolve, he has continued to pile on the runs in county cricket. However, this is going to be Sangakkara's last season as he announced that he would retire from first-class cricket at the end of the County Championship season in September.

Despite his advancing years, Sangakkara's batting prowess has not dwindled a bit and he has continued to amass runs at will in almost every part of the cricketing world. But the 39-year-old doesn’t want to stay on for too long in the fear of ending up as a pale shadow of his former self. 

"The biggest mistake that sometimes you can make is that you think you're better than you really are," he said. "Cricketers, or any sort of sportsperson, have an expiry date and you need to walk away. I have been very lucky to play for as long as I did so but there's a lot more life to be lived away from the game," he said. 

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