Kumar Sangakkara becomes second batsman after Sachin Tendulkar to reach 14,000 ODI runs…..

Kumar Sangakkara became second batsman after Sachin Tendulkar to register 14,000 runs in One-Day Internationals (ODIs). Sangakkara needed 39 more runs to achieve the milestone when he came out to bat against Australia at Sydney Cricket Ground. The left-hander reached the landmark 14,000 runs in 14th over of Sri Lankan innings.

Sangakkara has been in prolific touch and in his last two outings scored back to back centuries. He scored 73-ball century against Bangladesh and then against England notched another impressive hundred off 70 balls. Both his hundreds proved to be match winning ones and gave Sri Lanka a much needed direction in ICC Cricket World Cup 2015 after their poor start against New Zealand in the tournament opener.

The twin centuries took Sangakkara’s tally to 23 hundreds. Sangakkara reached the magical three figures once again against Australia and became the first batsman to score three consecutive hundreds in a World Cup. He now has the most centuries for Sri Lanka after Sanath jayasuriya’s 28 tons. The classy left-handed batsman features fourth on the list of all-time most hundreds in ODIs. The list is topped by Tendulkar (49), followed by former Australian captain Ricky Pointing (30) and Jayasuriya on third.

Sangakkara also became the first Sri Lankan batsman to notch up 14,000 runs in ODIs. It took him 402 matches to reach the milestone. Next on most runs for Sri Lanka list is Jayasuriya, who has 13364 runs from 441 matches. Sangakkara’s long-time friend Mahela Jayawardene is the third highest run-getter for Sri Lanka with over 12, 000 runs.