Kumar Sangakkara Zone - Top 5 Innings

192: Sri Lanka v Australia . Nov 2007
Scorecard | Cricinfo Report
Probably his greatest knock yet. Not many have treated modern Australian teams with such disdain as Sangakkara exhibited on the last day of the Hobart Test. You couldn.t believe this was the man recovering from a hamstring injury and coming on the back of a scratchy first-innings effort. The 109 runs he blitzed on the fourth day was the stuff of legend: He eased his drives through square, punched them off the back foot, pulled the short deliveries and carved the fuller ones. Saddled with the tail, he threatened to run down the 507 target in a hurry. Sri Lanka, overnight on 207, lost five quick wickets for just 25 runs when Sangakkara began to impose himself. He added 74 runs with Lasith Malinga and propelled the score to 364 when Rudi Koertzen intervened with an incorrect decision for which he later apologised. It killed the contest but no one who watched the knock will forget Sangakkara.s greatest time in the middle. Australia certainly won't.

287: Sri Lanka v South Africa - July 2006
Scorecard | Cricinfo Report
A career-best 287 and a world-record 624-run partnership with Mahela Jayawardene were the twin highlights of the innings. South Africa had crumbled for 169 and Sri Lanka lost two early wickets when the pair came together. It was just not the runs they scored but the manner in which they were compiled that impressed. For nearly eleven hours, Sangakkara had few hiccups. For two days the bowlers struggle to find anything but the middle of the bat, but he fell just short of the elusive triple century. He was the aggressor initially, allowing Jayawardene to find his footing before he eased into a steady rhythm. Sri Lanka eventually won by an innings and 153 runs with a session in hand.

100: Sri Lanka v New Zealand - December 2006
Scorecard | Cricinfo Report
One statistical nugget illuminates Sangakkara's Casabianca act: Sri Lanka's 170, which included his unbeaten hundred, was the fifth-lowest total in Test history to include an individual ton, but the second-lowest completed innings. He hit 12 boundaries and a six and, yet again, shepherded the tail brilliantly. He was the only one to come to terms with the Christchurch track; the next highest scorer was 24. Sangakkara's resistance ended in bizarre circumstances as Muralitharan came out of his crease to congratulate Sangakkara on his hundred before the throw had come in from the boundary and Brendon McCullum broke the stumps.

156*: Sri Lanka v New Zealand - December 2006
Scorecard | Cricinfo Report
Just a week after the Christchurch hundred, he scripted another gem at Wellington to propel Sri Lanka to a series-levelling win. Walking in after Sanath Jayasuriya fell for a duck, he made an unbeaten 156, Chamara Silva providing the only support with 61. He was aggressive from the start, threading drives on both sides of the wicket and was clearly batting on a higher plane than the rest. He was left stranded as the rest collapsed but by then he had taken Sri Lanka to 268 before Lasith Malinga and Muralitharan helped them to gain a match-winning 138-run lead.

66: Sri Lanka v India - 2002
Scorecard | Cricinfo Report
He made just 66 but it was a dazzling knock that threatened to take the game to India, who had posted a daunting 304. Jayasuriya had exited early but Sangakkara unfurled his full repertoire of strokes, hitting 11 fours and a six in a 47-ball knock. Sri Lanka sped to 96 in just over 12 overs before he fell, triggering a collapse. Sri Lanka didn.t come remotely close to the target but Sangakkara.s hand, albeit brief, was something special. It was as if he was in a trance and though he couldn.t take his team home, he nearly overshadowed Tendulkar.s brilliant hundred in the same match.