Always Found Zaheer Khan Tough To Face, Says Kumar Sangakkara

Feb 3, 2017 at 9:43 AM

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Always Found Zaheer Khan Tough To Face, Says Kumar Sangakkara

Batting legend Kumar Sangakkara might have conquered every bowler in the world during his illustrious career but the former Sri Lanka skipper has admitted there were a few bowlers who caused all sort of problems for him.

The two-time World Cup finalist, who played 134 Tests and 404 ODIs, revealed Pakistan great Wasim Akram as the most difficult bowler he faced during his illustrious 15-year career at the highest level. The left-handed batsman faced Akram in nine ODIs and was dismissed by the Sultan of Swing on three occasions.

“I think I’ve faced Wasim Akram only a few times (but he was) immensely difficult,” Sangakkara said while speaking on the Howie Games podcast.

“It’s strange you know, when you pick your bowlers or the people think, if you take Akram on the Test wicket tally, he’s nowhere near the top. He’s 12th, but you ask any batsman around the world and his name always comes up. He was an absolute genius,” the Sri Lanka great added.

Apart from Akram, Sangakkara also named spin legend Shane Warne, former England bowler Graeme Swann and India pacer Zaheer Khan as some of the toughest bowlers he faced.

“I’ve never faced Murali, luckily, in international cricket, or Chaminda Vaas.

“Shane Warne, incredibly difficult. I’ve had problems with Zaheer Khan. Graeme Swann. These bowlers have been very, very difficult. Even though Jimmy Anderson has probably got me out many times more, I would rate the others as people I really worried about,” he added.

Warne dismissed Sangakkara four times while Zaheer and Swann got the better of him on 11 and six occasions respectively.

Meanwhile, when asked about the best batsman he had ever seen, the batting legend named former West Indies skipper Vivian Richards. He also felt his compatriot Aravinda de Silva was ‘incredible to watch’.

“Sir Vivian Richards when I was growing up, then along comes Brian Lara.

“Watching Brian bat was an absolute privilege.

“Aravinda de Silva, he was incredible to watch. If he had been born a few years later he might not have had a World Cup but we would have had a guy who would have been in the top five all-time batsmen list, easy.

“Because I think after 1996 the attitude of Sri Lanka changed, we were pushing for more hundreds, more wins.

“He was dropped for two years …. and I remember he came up to me one day after he had just got back in the side, and we were talking about something and he said to me, ‘if I had played the last two years I would have scored another 20 hundreds with one eye closed’. And I believe him, because I know what he can do. He was not joking. He was deadly serious. To me he’s an extremely special player,” Sangakkara concluded.

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