Will Sangakkara be the world's greatest leftie?

"Will Sangakkara be the world’s greatest leftie?": How would you define the greatness of a batsman ?. To me, the average is only one vital aspect/parameter of it, but there're other equally vital aspects/parameters as well. In general, the true greatness of a batsman lies how well, how quickly and how often one could synchronize with the match situation, take the control of it and make a sheer influence towards the end result of the game so that their opponents really felt his presence in the middle. So one has to take the complete package into consideration; not just the average but the way that individual played the game and made the difference. That's why Sobers stood out from his contemporaries, so did Viv Richards. In modern times, Lara, Tendulkar and Ponting stood out from the rest as the 3 most complete batsmen of their era, but there had been several others like Hayden, Kallis, Dravid, Peterson, etc. who had been close but not quite in the same class overall. There had been several others like Gilchrist, Saeed Anwar, Sanath Jayasuriya, Shewag, or even Aravinda De Silva for that matter, who were exceptionally gifted though not the most consistent, still could turn any game on its head as their any sudden spike could be lethal and would quite easily negate even the very best. The thing with S'kara is that, though he has gathered some quite staggering averages across both test and ODI formats, he never stood out much from his contemporaries when it comes to this most vital dimension; the match winning ability. From his 600+ international innings in the 2 formats, I'm not sure how many had made the difference when it comes to the end results of those games. In 90% of the cases, his contribution would have only delayed the inevitable unless a more impactful innings came from another batsman. More often than not, he was happy accumulating more runs just letting the other parties to take all the risk on behalf of him at their peril. So calling him the greatest left hand batsman of all time is too much, not deserving to be honest. He would sit in there in the same level as where someone like Kallis would sit when it comes to right hand batsmen. Both were greats in their own right, true, but neither would be the greatest when it comes to the overall package. That's exactly why, despite their more or less the same 50-51 averages, Viv Richards always stood out from Gavaskar, Miandad and Border. It's not just the average, but the entire combination which also includes other vital parameters such as flair, the strike rate, the ability to counter attack or to defend as the situation demands, the ability to judge when to take the risk and pass the pressure to the opponents, etc. which define how far you’d stand out from your contemporaries so that your opposition truly feels the pressure as long as you’re in the middle. Despite their high averages both S'kara and Kallis count much less when it comes to this vital dimension. They may still be great, true, but certainly not the greatest despite their averages alone. BTW, I’m from Sri Lanka.

mmm I did not know he averages 72 when batting as a specialist batsman. Thats incredible,

Definitely the best leftie in the world and also the smartest cricketer in the world. If any of you guys have anything to say happy to have a debate...I actually I dare u too..

I agree with you Denham. Kumar is such a class act to watch. Just have a look at his average when he's not keeping wickets in tests. Triple is a triple regardless of the team it is scored against. Only a person who has played cricket will know how hard it is to concentrate to get 300+. I was watching his 192 down in hobart couple of years back while our Australian attack featured the likes of Mcgrath, Lee & Mcgill. Unfortunately he was given out by Kortezen for a ball which was brushing his body as I remember. I agree Sobers, Greame & Lara were masters of left handers, but witout a doubt Kumar is right up there too. It's not his fault SL is getting to play minnows mostly but boy hasn't he done well?

Amazing. Never thought he was a wicket keeper. Without wearing glows he's averaging around 70's. Tendulkar , Ponting retired after 2012. They had been with Sangakkara for more than 12 years. Can't say they are from different periods. Scoring 300 doesn't shade his performance against top quality attacks like Australia, South Africa, Pakistan. They are the best 3 bowling attacks in the world during last decade. Mcgrath, Pollock, Warne, Murali, Donald, Wasim, Waqar, Saqlain, Styne, Lee , Johnson controlled the bowling of the last decade. . India, England are batting sides. They don't have good bowling attacks or good bowler during last decade. This will tell Sangakkara was equally good with bests and weak.

"Yet Tendulkar and Ponting are mentioned in the same breath after the man with no peer…" Not Lara? Putting aside average (lower than Tendulkar, higher than Ponting), which, taken in isolation, is of limited significance, he was a better batsman than either of them. More destructive and better to watch at his best (and cricket is, after all, a game, played for the amusement of players and spectators - statistical consistency isn't everything); more all-time innings (the world class and test records, the 277 in Sydney, the 153 in Bridgetown, etc.); like Bradman, broke the world and test records when he came into the game, a generational feat; and - a much neglected statistic - scorer of more than 20% of his team's runs over the course of his career, something matched only by Bradman and Headly. The latter figure, for me, really clinches it: Tendulkar and Ponting played in much stronger teams, and could usually count on damage having been done to the attack by other top order batsman, where a typical Lara innings began with the Windies two wickets down for not much and the bowling side on top with fielders all round the bat. Degree of difficulty surely needs to be taken into account when weighing average and consistency. As for Sangakarra - extraordinary. Easily the best ever wicket-keeping batsman of all time. One of the best batsmen of all time. One of the best 5 or so batsman of all time? Not quite.

I didn't see Neil Harvey play, but apparently he was Australia's greatest left hand batsman before Border, I also rate Yallop as good as or better than Taylor and Langer.

He's done well overall. Not he's fault that most of the other teams don't play BAN. Also Keep in mind that when NZ and some of the other countries toured BAN, they didn't do too well either.

Sanga is a superstar! Anyone to make comment otherwise know's nothing about Cricket!

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Sangakarra scored 300 against Bangladesh. Dizzy Gillespie scored 200 against them. Does that make Gillespie the greatest Australian bowler batsmen in history? Bangladesh is not a test standard cricket team. They are a test team in name only. Carlton district cricket team would defeat Bangladesh inside 5 days.

Some people here who make comments here have no idea what they are talking...As a pure batsman since gave up his wicket keeping je averages 72.55 in 75 matches..That is only 2 nd to bradman and way better than anyone else...And yes he bashed minnows like evey other batsman (Sachin`s highest is vs Bangladesh , Take out Mathew Hayden`s 380 vs Zim , you`ll see his average dropping down below 50)..removing the minnows his average is still 3rd of the modern greats, behind only Lara in second, and Kallis..8800 in 102 Tests..still way better than M.CLark`s record.....And please Aussies stop comparing Hayden with sanga..Sanga is in a different class

Sanga is the greatest in the era

U r exactly correct.... Sanga is a wicketkeeper bat.... Without gloves his average is in the 69s..... I think he is the greatest after don bradman

Ho hum, another Roar expert writing an article on a single headline statistic and "some suggestion" without looking any deeper at the subject of his piece. I guess it at least gets the audience going, compelled as we feel to correct the author's glaring oversight: here, runs against whom, on what pitches and in what contexts.

Minnow basher or not, he averages over 60 as a no 3 from 114 matches and has a pretty useful record in Australia too (admittedly only played 5 matches in Oz) Career averages Span Mat Runs HS Bat Av 100 Wkts BBI Bowl Av 5 Ct St Ave Diff unfiltered 2000-2014 122 11046 319 57.83 34 0 - - 0 171 20 - Profile filtered 2000-2014 114 10375 319 61.02 33 - - - - - - - in Australia 2004-2012 5 543 192 60.33 1 - - - - 8 0

Mate lets not forget that his previous best of 287 was against South Africa which I dont think is a minnow. He has also scored loads of runs against Pakistan which has always had one of the worlds best bowling attacks. Scored a 192 vs Aus in Hobart and a century vs SA in SA 2 years ago. He is a great batsman and he averages 67 as a specialist batsman. Also lets not forget that even Greats of the last decade like Tendulkar, Lara, Clarke have played vs BAN and none of them got a triple. Every game BAN plays you dont see triples being made. Against any team a triple is a triple and it needs to be given due recognition and respect. Congratulations Mr. Kumar Sangakkara!!!

Please don't include Gambhir in your list of classy batsmen. One of the most dour and unattractive batsman around. And I speak as an Indian. Mark butcher ?? Moderately good batsman, but nowhere in the league of Sangakkara. Ranatunga is in the same boat, with an even poorer record. Mark Taylor was good but definitely not great. Ganguly had class and I'm one of his huge fans, but a decidedly inferior record compared to Sangakkara. On your list I would rate Pollock, Sobers, Lara, Hayden, Gilchrist, Anwar, Lloyd and Border in the same league as Sangakkara. The order might vary based on factors like aesthetics, aggresion, consistency etc. I personally would rate as follows: Sobers (haven't seen him play, but go on anecdotal evidence), Lara, Pollock (same as sobers), Hayden, Gilchrist, Lloyd, Sangakkara, Anwar and Border. Followed by Cook, Ganguly, Smith, Langer and Taylor I don't rate the rest.

Very good point.

I can't disagree with the 'flat track bully' claims, but I think we're looking at the wrong set of statistics. Kumar Sangakkara is a wicketkeeper-batsman by trade. He has played 74 Tests without the gloves, averaging an incredible 69.55, placing him second to Bradman for players playing over 10 Tests by a country mile. In my opinion, those stats tell me more about the player than who he has played and scored runs against.