Jayawardene and Sangakkara: the ODI story
A look at the one-day numbers of the Sri Lankan duo and their impact

Mahela Jayawardene and Kumar Sangakkara played together in 369 ODIs for Sri Lanka • Getty Images
Mahela Jayawardene made his ODI debut against Zimbabwe in 1998. He did not have a great start to his career. The first-ten matches produced only 122 runs. During this time he missed as many matches as he played since the Sri Lankan team had stalwarts like Sanath Jayasuriya, Marvan Atapattu, Aravinda de Silva, Arjuna Ranatunga and Roshan Mahanama. Everything changed a year later in Adelaide where Jayawardene crafted a magnificent match-winning hundred against England. Afterwards he was a fixture in the Sri Lankan team until World Cup 2015.
Kumar Sangakkara made his debut a couple of years later. He had a better start but a poor run cost him his place during 2001. He came back strongly and the two wonderful cricketers formed the backbone of the Sri Lankan batting until World Cup 2015.
It is not often that both batsmen failed. The numbers are enumerated later. But they have achieved what very few batting pairs have, other than Australia: A share of the ICC Champions Trophy 2002, World T20 champions in 2014 and World Cup finalists in 2007 and 2011. Let us see what Jayawardene and Sangakkara achieved as individuals and as a pair during their illustrious careers.
1a. As a Player | ||||||||
Batsman | ODIs | Inns | Runs | Balls | S/R | RpI | Index | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
DPMD Jayawardene | 448 | 418 | 12650 | 16020 | 79.0 | 30.26 | 23.90 | |
KC Sangakkara | 404 | 380 | 14234 | 18048 | 78.9 | 37.46 | 29.54 | |
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1b. As a Pair | ||||||||
Batsman | ODIs | Both | Wins | Win-% | Contributed Matches | |||
DPMD Jayawardene | 448 | 367 | 204 | 55.6 | 121 | |||
KC Sangakkara | 404 | 367 | 204 | 55.6 | 121 | |||
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1c. As a Captain | ||||||||
Batsman | ODIs | Wins | Win% | Inns | Runs | Balls | S/R | RpI |
DPMD Jayawardene | 123 | 69 | 56.1 | 117 | 3352 | 4118 | 81.4 | 28.6 |
KC Sangakkara | 44 | 27 | 61.4 | 43 | 1756 | 2083 | 84.3 | 40.8 |
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1d. Share of team runs/balls | ||||||||
Batsman | Runs | TeamRuns | Run-% | Balls | TeamBalls | Ball-% | Rel Index | |
DPMD Jayawardene | 12381 | 86511 | 14.3% | 15736 | 111705 | 14.1% | 101.9% | |
KC Sangakkara | 13975 | 78693 | 17.8% | 17715 | 100344 | 17.7% | 100.7% |
Jayawardene played more matches but compiled fewer runs. This is clearly shown by the RpI value of Sangakkara, which, at 37.46 is nearly 25% better than Jayawardene's. The strike rates are virtually identical. Thus the Batting Index, which is a simple product of the RpI and S/R stands at 24 and 29.5 respectively for Jayawardene and Sangakkara.
Sangakkara's career aggregate stands at 14,234, second only to Sachin Tendulkar. Does any current player have a chance of breaking this? Hashim Amla is 32 and he is unlikely to play ODIs beyond another five years. He may not even get to 10,000. AB de Villiers is 31 and has scored 7900-plus runs. He may not play long enough to overhaul Sangakkara, looking at his commitments on the T20 circuit. It is possible that de Villiers may overhaul Jayawardene though. So it looks likely that only Virat Kohli will cross Sangakkara's tally.
Jayawardene and Sangakkara played together in 369 matches and Sri Lanka won 55% of these matches. Since they missed very few matches there is no comparison point. Either or both of them contributed in 122 of these matches, around a third. In 77 of these matches they scored centuries either individually or together. Jayawardene crossed hundred three times when Sangakkara was not playing and Sangakkara did the same four times in Jayawardene's absence. It is not surprising to note that Sri Lanka won 57 of these matches (74%).
In 43 of these matches both Jayawardene and Sangakkara failed and were dismissed for aggregate score of 20 or less. Surprisingly, Sri Lanka won 18 of these matches.
Jayawardene led Sri Lanka in almost thrice the number of matches as Sangakkara. As a captain both of them out-performed their own numbers by 25-30%. Jayawardene's win percentage was slightly lower at 57.1% as compared to 61.4% but that was across plenty more matches. Jayawardene took Sri Lanka to the 2007 World Cup infal and Sangakkara, to the 2011 final.
Jayawardene scored 14.4% of his team runs, which is par for a top-order batsman. Sangakkara scored 17.8% of the team runs, which is above par: Only Tendulkar and Brian Lara have higher percentage figures amongst the top-10 batsmen. Sangakkara has scored over 20% of his team runs over the last 15 or so matches.
The three matches circled are the ones in which Jayawardene and Sangakkara scored 200 or more runs. Surprisingly, in one match against India in 2005 they scored 209 and yet Sri Lanka lost. During 2011 they scored 213 runs against England and Sri Lanka won. Similarly, during 2013 they scored 211 runs against South Africa and won.
2a. Opening position | ||||||||
Batsman | Inns | Runs | Balls | S/R | RpI | Index | OPP Runs | OPP Avge |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
DPMD Jayawardene | 34 | 1376 | 1505 | 91.4 | 40.47 | 37.00 | 2007 | 59.0 |
KC Sangakkara | 19 | 724 | 894 | 81.0 | 38.11 | 30.86 | 592 | 31.2 |
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2b. Middle Order (3 & 4) | ||||||||
Batsman | Inns | Runs | Balls | S/R | RpI | Index | ||
DPMD Jayawardene | 262 | 8208 | 10537 | 77.9 | 31.33 | 24.40 | ||
KC Sangakkara | 303 | 12098 | 15162 | 79.8 | 39.93 | 31.86 | ||
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2c. Late Order | ||||||||
Batsman | Inns | Runs | Balls | S/R | RpI | Index | TeamRuns | BatRuns % |
DPMD Jayawardene | 117 | 2797 | 3694 | 75.7 | 23.91 | 18.10 | 9712 | 28.8% |
KC Sangakkara | 51 | 1153 | 1659 | 69.5 | 22.61 | 15.71 | 4154 | 27.8% |
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2d. Best BatPos analysis | ||||||||
Batsman | AvgeBatPos | BestBatPos | BBP-Inns | BBP-Runs | BBP-RpI | CareerRuns | BoundaryRuns | Boundary% |
DPMD Jayawardene | 4.10 | 4 | 216 | 6830 | 31.62 | 12381 | 4818 | 38.9% |
KC Sangakkara | 3.51 | 3 | 234 | 9611 | 41.07 | 13975 | 5912 | 42.3% |
Let us move on to the analysis of the batting positions. Both Jayawardene and Sangakkara opened in a few matches, Jayawardene more than Sangakkara. Jayawardene was a far more effective opening batsman than Sangakkara. His RpI was slightly higher and strike rate much better. His batting index was 37 against Sangakkara's 30. The average opening partnership was also nearly twice that of Sangakkara's opening partnerships. Just for the record, Jayawardene and Sangakkara never opened together in an ODI match.
It is obvious that the reverse would happen in the middle order where Sangakkara was king. His RpI was 30% higher and his strike rate was slightly better.
Jayawardene batted more often with the lower order and was slightly more effective. The best batting position was No. 4 for Jayawardene and No. 3 for Sangakkara. This is the position in which the respective batsmen scored most runs. It is clear that Jayawardene was far more effective as an opener. One wonders why Jayawardene did not open more often.
First | Second | |||||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Batsman | Inns | Runs | Balls | S/R | RpI | Inns | Runs | Balls | S/R | RpI |
DPMD Jayawardene | 238 | 7231 | 9117 | 79.3 | 30.38 | 175 | 5150 | 6619 | 77.8 | 29.43 |
KC Sangakkara | 218 | 8773 | 11147 | 78.7 | 40.24 | 155 | 5202 | 6568 | 79.2 | 33.56 |
While Jayawardene was equally effective in the first and second innings, Sangakkara had better figures in the first innings. But let us not forget that Sangakkara's overall figures are much better.
Home | Neutral | Away | |||||||||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Batsman | Inns | Runs | S/R | RpI | Inns | Runs | S/R | RpI | Inns | Runs | S/R | RpI | |||
DPMD Jayawardene | 135 | 4046 | 77.3 | 29.97 | 121 | 4024 | 79.6 | 33.26 | 157 | 4311 | 79.2 | 27.46 | |||
KC Sangakkara | 129 | 4724 | 77.2 | 36.62 | 102 | 3871 | 79.5 | 37.95 | 142 | 5380 | 80.0 | 37.89 |
Surprisingly Jayawardene performed much better in neutral locations than home or away. Sangakkara was equally effective in all locations: if anything, his away numbers are the best of the lot.
Wins | Losses | |||||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Batsman | Inns | Runs | Balls | S/R | RpI | Inns | Runs | Balls | S/R | RpI |
DPMD Jayawardene | 215 | 7605 | 9029 | 84.2 | 35.37 | 185 | 4510 | 6345 | 71.1 | 24.38 |
KC Sangakkara | 200 | 8240 | 10034 | 82.1 | 41.20 | 162 | 5407 | 7193 | 75.2 | 33.38 |
While Jayawardene contributed well in won matches, his contributions in lost matches fell off. However, look at Sangakkara's very good contributions in lost matches.
6a. WC SF/Finals & CT-Finals | |||||
Batsman | Inns | Runs | Balls | S/R | RpI |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
DPMD Jayawardene | 7 | 333 | 346 | 96.2 | 47.57 |
KC Sangakkara | 7 | 293 | 445 | 65.8 | 41.86 |
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6a. Significant matches | |||||
Batsman | Inns | Runs | Balls | S/R | RpI |
DPMD Jayawardene | 18 | 473 | 594 | 79.6 | 26.28 |
KC Sangakkara | 20 | 452 | 675 | 67.0 | 22.60 |
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6a. Early matches | |||||
Batsman | Inns | Runs | Balls | S/R | RpI |
DPMD Jayawardene | 26 | 868 | 1020 | 85.1 | 33.38 |
KC Sangakkara | 25 | 1248 | 1330 | 93.8 | 49.92 |
Both Jayawardene and Sangakkara played in seven important World Cup/Champions Trophy matches. Jayawardene did much better, both in the RpI and strike rate measures. His index is an excellent 45-plus while Sangakkara's is a low 29-plus.
In the middle-level games this trend continues. However in the early matches, Sangakkara has performed much better. One has to conclude that, overall, Jayawardene has done better in the World Cups while keeping in mind that later stages cannot be reached unless someone contributes for the team in early stages.
7a. vs Best Team | |||||||
Batsman | Team | Inns | Runs | Balls | S/R | RpI | Index |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
DPMD Jayawardene | Ind | 84 | 2666 | 3411 | 78.2 | 31.74 | 24.81 |
KC Sangakkara | Ind | 71 | 2700 | 3308 | 81.6 | 38.03 | 31.04 |
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7b. Best Year | |||||||
Batsman | Year | Inns | Runs | Balls | S/R | RpI | Index |
DPMD Jayawardene | 2001 | 31 | 1260 | 1538 | 81.9 | 40.65 | 33.30 |
KC Sangakkara | 2006 | 33 | 1333 | 1682 | 79.3 | 40.39 | 32.01 |
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7c. Best Streak | |||||||
Year | Runs | Balls | S/R | RpI | |||
DPMD Jayawardene | 2007 | 796 | 867 | 91.8 | 53.07 | ||
KC Sangakkara | 2014 | 1053 | 1027 | 102.5 | 70.20 | ||
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c. Worst Streak | |||||||
Year | Runs | Balls | S/R | RpI | |||
DPMD Jayawardene | 2003 | 136 | 297 | 45.8 | 9.07 | ||
KC Sangakkara | 2001 | 141 | 251 | 56.2 | 9.40 |
Both Jayawardene and Sangakkara performed very well against India, scoring more runs against their neighbours than any other team. Taking the RpI will not work in this analytical segment since the number of matches played would be low for some teams.
Jayawardene's best year was during the early years. During 2001 he scored 1260 runs at an excellent strike rate and runs-per-innings figures. Sangakkara had a similar year five years later.
In his best 15-match streak, Jayawardene scored 796 runs during 2007. However Sangakkara finished his career in a burst of glory. His best streak of 15 innings ended with the penultimate match he played. This aggregate of 1053 runs is one of the highest by any player in ODI history. It is safe to say that Sangakkara had the best swan song any ODI batsman ever had.
This is a who's who of top ODI batsmen, barring Viv Richards.
Batsman | Year | Runs | Balls |
Tendulkar | 1998 | 1105 | 1104.00 |
Hayden | 2007 | 1101 | 1108.00 |
Amla | 2009 | 1083 | 1070.00 |
Sangakkara | 2014 | 1053 | 1027.00 |
Williamson | 2014 | 1043 | 1147.00 |
De Villiers | 2014 | 1007 | 753.00 |
Kohli | 2012 | 1003 | 1054.00 |
In conclusion:
- Overall Sangakkara had much better figures.
- Sangakkara was the better batsman in the middle order while Jayawardene performed better in the opening position.
- Jayawardene was the more effective captain. Sangakkara had fewer opportunities.
- Outside Sri Lanka, Sangakkara performed more effectively.
- In key World Cup matches, Jayawardene performed very well.
- Not to forget that Sangakkara also kept wickets in most of the matches he played.
- As a pair they were superb. It is possible that Tendulkar and Sourav Ganguly delivered for India what these two greats did for Sri Lanka. They will be missed not just by the Sri Lankans, but by all cricket enthusiasts. In the 357 matches in which they batted, they scored 50 or more runs 214 times: That is 60%, something to marvel about.
As I had mentioned in my previous article, this is my final article for ESPNcricinfo, at least for the time being. I will take a six-month break and take stock at the turn of the New Year. I really want to do a tribute to the Test careers of these two gentlemen cricketers. When, and if, I resume writing, that will be the first article. I would be failing in my duties if I do not place on record my heartfelt thanks to ESPNcricinfo, in general and S Rajesh and Sambit Bal, in particular.
What do I say about my readers? I have been privileged, I would even say, blessed, to have the collection of readers over the years. As I have always said, without the readers, I am nothing. You have all been wonderful, inspiring, insightful and rarely has an article gone by without a new idea being floated. I owe all of you everything. Maybe I will take this sabbatical as an opportunity to look at a book (or two) which many of you have been asking for.
I am glad to close with a reference to a wonderful Test series between England and New Zealand. Brendon McCullum is one of a kind. The mould was thrown out after he was cast. He is changing the way Test cricket is played: something the Australians did a decade back. At Headingley, his team, mostly in an attacking manner, came back from 2 for 2, 144 for 5, 177 for 0, 215 for 1, 23 for 2 and 141 for 4. And McCullum's use of Kane Williamson's off-break bowling: Something to behold. And may I ask: Why five Tests against Australia and only two Tests against New Zealand? Why not four and three. Oh! I forgot: Not for the teams outside the Big Three.
An appropriate image to close the mini-project I initiated a few months back, to bring to life a few lasting images related to Bradman, cricketer extraordinary. It has been one of my most enjoyable tasks and I hope the readers had as much fun as I had. The last image is the scan of the front page of Melbourne Herald after Don Bradman became Sir Donald Bradman during 1949. No award before or after was more deserved.
Anantha Narayanan has written for ESPNcricinfo and CastrolCricket and worked with a number of companies on their cricket performance ratings-related systems