Kumar Sangakkara to retire from first-class cricket at end of county season

May 23, 2017

New Delhi, May 23: Former Sri Lanka captain Kumar Sangakkara will retire from first-class cricket in September at the end of England`s county championship season.sangakkara

The Surrey batsman, who quit Test cricket in 2015 with 12,400 runs, is fifth on the all-time list of Test run scorers, averaging 57.40 in 134 tests.

"You try to fight the inevitable but you need to get out while you`re ahead," the 39-year-old told the BBC on Monday.

"It`s the last time I`ll play a four-day game here. I`ll be 40 in a few months, this is about the end of my time in county cricket."

As well as his test exploits, Sangakkara has been one of the game`s great limited overs batsmen and was part of the Sri Lanka team that reached the 2007 and 2011 World Cup finals, although they lost to Australia and India respectively.

His Twenty20 commitments will take him through to 2018, but his time in the longer format is almost over.

"My career might have a few more months (left) but that`s about it," he added.

Having joined Surrey for the 2015 season, Sangakkara is still in good form. He scored over 1,000 first-class runs last term and hit two centuries against Middlesex at the weekend but felt it was still time to walk away.

"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."

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News Network
April 24,2020

New Delhi, Apr 24: Veteran off-spinner Harbhajan Singh said he doesn't think Mahendra Singh Dhoni will play for India again, adding to the guessing game over the future of the superstar former captain.

Dhoni, 38, has not appeared for club or country since last year's 50-over World Cup and India's coronavirus lockdown could threaten his chances of getting back into the national team.

The Indian Premier League, the main platform before this year's scheduled T20 World Cup, is likely to be truncated or cancelled because of the pandemic.

Harbhajan, who plays with Dhoni at IPL side Chennai Super Kings, said international retirement was on the cards for Dhoni and that he was increasingly being asked about his teammate.

"It's up to him. You need to know whether he wants to play for India again," Harbhajan said in an online forum.

"As far as I know him, he won't want to wear India's blue jersey again. IPL he will play, but for India I think he had decided the (2019) World Cup was his last."

Dhoni, who gave up Test cricket in 2014, started training for the Super Kings in March but has not commented on his international future.

Dhoni led India to win the inaugural Twenty20 World Cup in 2007. He hit a six to seal the 2011 World Cup final victory and, along with it, his status as a national hero. He has amassed 10,773 runs from 350 ODIs.

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Agencies
January 25,2020

Headingley, Jan 25: England have become the first team in the world to score 500,000 runs in Test cricket. They achieved the feat during the ongoing fourth and final Test against South Africa being played at The Wanderers.

On Friday - the opening day of the Test match -- England captain Joe Root's single through the covers took the Three Lions to a landmark 500,000 run-mark in the longest format of the game. They achieved the feat in their 1022nd Test match.

Australia comes second in the list, with 432,706 runs in 830 Tests. India, meanwhile, are third, with 273,518 runs in 540 Tests, followed by West Indies (270,441 runs in 545 Tests).

In the third Test played at St George's Park in Port Elizabeth, England had become the first team to play 500 Test matches on foreign soil. Australia are the second team to play the most away Test with 404 matches they have played so far.

India have played 268 Tests on foreign soil in which they have won 51, lost 113 and 104 have ended in a draw.

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News Network
April 5,2020

New Delhi, April 5: England batsman James Vince lashed out at people for not taking proper measures to contain the spread of the coronavirus pandemic and said people are going out as if "everything is normal".

"Just seen the pictures of people out and about today as if everything is normal. What selfish people, surely by now they've realised this is serious. Well done to everyone who's doing their bit and staying in," Vince tweeted.

On March 13, the World Health Organisation (WHO) said that Europe was now the 'epicentre' of the disease.

The death toll due to the novel coronavirus in the UK has exceeded 4,313 with at least 708 new deaths in the last 24 hours, the largest one-day rise since the start of the outbreak as confirmed by the Department of Health and Social Care.

The total number of cases in the UK as on Saturday is 41,903, a rise of 3,735 cases in the last 24 hours.

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