Stats: Kumar Sangakkara completes 6000 runs in Twenty20 cricket

Sri Lankan legendary batsman, Kumar Sangakkara achieved a rare feat in the NatWest T20 Blast game on Thursday as the 39-year-old became only the 14th player to score 6000 runs in Twenty20 cricket. He is also the first Sri Lankan to aggregate 6000 runs in this format.

Sangakkara, who tore the webbing between his middle finger and index finger while batting in the Royal London One-Day Cup final at Lord’s, missed a County Championship game and a T20 Blast match for Surrey. He also had to miss the historical game between Marylebone Cricket Club and Afghanistan on Tuesday at the Lord’s but the left-hander returned for his side’s game against Middlesex at the Lord’s.

He walked out to bat in the 3rd over of the innings 26 more runs behind the 6000-run milestone. He took on the home side’s bowling after Aaron Finch’s departure in the 5th over by hitting Steven Finn for a four and a six in 6th over. With another six in the following over bowled by Tom Helm, the former Sri Lankan captain completed his T20 milestone.

Sri Lankans are not quite known for topping in the run-getters charts in the Twenty20 format as no one other than Sangakkara, Jayawardene and Dilshan, who all have 5000+ runs, has scored more than 3000 T20 runs. Among the 13 players who have aggregated 6000 T20 runs before Sangakkara, five are from Asia as the list includes 4 Indians and a player from Pakistan.

Most runs by Sri Lankans in Twenty20 cricket:

Most runs in Twenty20 cricket:

(Stats as on July 13, 2017)