The images, described as “not for the faint hearted” by the 39-year-old, give an up-close view of the damage to Sangakkara’s right hand, an ailment he picked up while batting in the 50-over county tournament decider against Nottinghamshire last Saturday.
Sangakkara explained he’d split the webbing between his middle and ring fingers on his top hand. The injury forced him out of Surrey’s subsequent County Championship clash with Hampshire and their T20 tournament opener against Essex.
Having begun his international career as a wicketkeeper before eschewing the gloves in a bid to focus on his batting, Sangakkara joked he should have ‘stuck to wicketkeeping’.
The veteran has been in tremendous form this northern summer, becoming the first batsman to reach 1,000 runs in the four-day competition this year. He currently leads all-comers atop the Division One run-scoring charts with 1,086 runs at 108.60.
Last month he added another milestone to his already glittering cricketing resumé, notching his 100th century across all forms of cricket in Surrey’s one-day quarter-final win over Yorkshire.
Sangakkara’s run-a-ball 121 – his seventh century of the county season in all formats – helped Surrey to 7-313 in their knockout 50-over clash at Headingley, leading them to a 24-run victory.
It was his 39th List A hundred, adding to his 61 first-class centuries, to join the likes of Don Bradman (117 hundreds), Sachin Tendulkar (142) and WG Grace (124) in notching a ton of tons.
“I’ve been enjoying myself,” Sangakkara told Sky Sports.
“I haven’t really stressed myself out, or frustrated myself by doing too much. I’ve had a good amount of rest away from the game.
“The set-up at Surrey is excellent. They really understand what players need and it’s that kind of balance and playing in a team of good players and people that helps keep you focused and fresh.”
In May, he fell 16 runs short of becoming just the fourth player in history to score hundreds in six successive first-class innings, dismissed for 84 after previous tallies of 136, 105, 114, 120, 200.
Despite his incredible form, the Test great hosed down suggestions he would come out of international retirement for Sri Lanka during their Champions Trophy campaign.
“No, definitely not,” Sangakkara said when asked by his co-commentators if he was tempted by a possible comeback for Sri Lanka.
“Number one, I’m too old, you’ve seen my grey hair. I’m terrible on the field and in the cold my performance would drop about 40 per cent.
“In no way or form am I fit to play but like you said you can stay away from the game for a while, but it’s hard to take the Sri Lankan out of the Sri Lankan.”
