Kumar Sangakkara said he would continue to play franchise based T20s tournaments.
AFP/Colombo
Sri Lanka’s Kumar Sangakkara will retire from Twenty20 internationals after the ongoing World T20 in Bangladesh, the veteran left-hander told a newspaper yesterday.
The 36-year-old said he wanted to make way for younger players in the national team, but made himself available to play the shortest format in franchise-based competitions.
“Definitely, without a doubt, this is my last World T20,” Sangakkara told the Colombo-based Sunday Island newspaper. “I won’t be playing any T20 internationals after this.
“It’s sad, but that’s the truth. It’s not the end of my T20 career though. I would like to play franchise-based T20s. Once your World Cup prospects are over, you should give the next crop of players an opportunity. It’s a natural progression.”
Sangakkara, under whom Sri Lanka reached the final of the 2009 World Twenty20 in England, has played 50 T20 internationals, scoring 1,311 runs at an average of 32.77 with seven half-centuries.
He has been in prime form of late, smashing a triple-century and a hundred in the second Test against Bangladesh in Chittagong last month.
“Improving is the whole purpose of playing. When you reach a goal you lift that goal and try to achieve something new. Whether you are young or older, the motivation has to be there. The day that motivation goes and you are just trying to hold on to your place in the side, that’s the time that you have to decide that the time is right to go. When you play for a team, the main thing is to win. If you can do it there is a huge feeling of satisfaction. Those are the things that really motivate me,” said Sangakkara, adding he would reevaluate his place in the ODI team after the 2015 World Cup, as long as his form and fitness held out until then.
Sri Lanka, the world’s number one T20 side, are drawn with South Africa, England, New Zealand and a yet-to-be decided qualifier in the Super-10 round of the World Twenty20.