Kumar Sangakkara Injured and Recuperating
‘Bitter-swee’t is the term that can be used to describe Kumar Sangakkara experience at the Australian Tour of 2012. The Sri Lankan captain joined the very exclusive 10,000 runs club, consisting of just Sachin Tendulkar, Rahul Dravid, Ricky Ponting and Jacques Kallis, just in the last week of December with his 58 runs in the first innings of the second Melbourne Test. Before he could celebrate in full form, he fractured his index finger on the left after being hit on his glove with a ball bowled by Mitchell Johnson. A surgery will be required to fix the broken finger; and a total of at least six to eight week will be required for the treatment and recuperation.
Unfortunately for Sri Lanka, not only will Kumar Sangakkara be unavailable to play for Sri Lanka's final Test in Sydney, but also for the five One Day Internationals and two Twenty-twenty games slated to take place over the next one month.
Australians kick started the ODI series with a victory of 107 runs over the Sri Lankan cricket team. But it looks like their luck ran out with first match. The second ODI and third ODI were won by Sri Lanka, by eight and four wickets respectively. The fourth ODI match was called off due to rain, much to the chagrin of the Sri Lankan captain, Mahela Jayawardene, who knew that Sri Lanka had the upper hand and would have definitely won the match had they proceeded to complete the match.
Throughout the series both the batsmen and bowlers, especially the latter, have put up impressive performances. The series is also slated as Jayawardene’s last series as the captain of the Sri Lankan cricket squad. The fifth ODI was the most important as that would have decided the eventual winner, or so everyone thought. Even with Australia’s 32 run victory in the match, the series have ended in a tie between Sri Lanka and Australia with a score of 2-2. It appears as though Sangakkara was sorely missed during the match. His presence might have shifted the match in Sri Lanka’s favour.
The year 2012 was a positive highlight in Kumar Sangakkara profile. He had reaped plaudits by the dozen; some of which included the prestigious Cricketer of the Year, Test Cricketer of the Year and the People's Choice award. Add to that his inclusion in to the 10,000 runs club and he would have had a perfect year, had he not been injured.
