Kumar Sangakkara to retire from first-class cricket at end of county season

May 23, 2017

New Delhi, May 23: Former Sri Lanka captain Kumar Sangakkara will retire from first-class cricket in September at the end of England`s county championship season.

sangakkara

The Surrey batsman, who quit Test cricket in 2015 with 12,400 runs, is fifth on the all-time list of Test run scorers, averaging 57.40 in 134 tests.

"You try to fight the inevitable but you need to get out while you`re ahead," the 39-year-old told the BBC on Monday.

"It`s the last time I`ll play a four-day game here. I`ll be 40 in a few months, this is about the end of my time in county cricket."

As well as his test exploits, Sangakkara has been one of the game`s great limited overs batsmen and was part of the Sri Lanka team that reached the 2007 and 2011 World Cup finals, although they lost to Australia and India respectively.

His Twenty20 commitments will take him through to 2018, but his time in the longer format is almost over.

"My career might have a few more months (left) but that`s about it," he added.

Having joined Surrey for the 2015 season, Sangakkara is still in good form. He scored over 1,000 first-class runs last term and hit two centuries against Middlesex at the weekend but felt it was still time to walk away.

"The biggest mistake that sometimes you can make is that you think you`re better than you really are," he said.

"Cricketers, or any sort of sportsperson, have an expiry date and you need to walk away.

"I have been very lucky to play for as long as I did so but there`s a lot more life to be lived away from the game."

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News Network
March 22,2024

IPL.jpg

The start of the world’s most lucrative cricket tournament in India is presenting investors with another big opportunity to cash in on the sport, months after the world’s most populous nation hosted the Cricket World Cup.

The eight-week long Indian Premier League begins March 22 for its 17th season. Since its inception, the fast-paced cricket tournament has become a corporate juggernaut to rival the National Football League in the US and the English Premier League in value.

Just as October’s Cricket World Cup boosted consumption in India for months, fans are expected to flock to restaurants, pubs and food delivery platforms over the duration of the tournament. This year’s IPL also coincides with general elections that will last for six weeks starting April 19, a period when companies are expecting higher food and drink sales as people flock to rallies and other events.

“There’s going to be a lot of spending,” said Madan Sabnavis, chief economist at Bank of Baroda. “IPL, as well as the election, gives a three-month corridor with enhanced economic activity.”

Stocks in India such as McDonald’s franchise operator Westlife Foodworld Ltd. and peer Sapphire Foods India Ltd. gained ahead of the first match on Friday, as well as hotels and beverage makers. Packaged-food companies could also stand to benefit from the IPL craze, said Sachil Bobade, an analyst at investment firm Dolat Capital Market.

The IPL ecosystem was valued at $11 billion (Rs 91,721 crores) in 2023, including the value of media rights and sponsorships, according to Indian valuation consulting firm D&P Advisory.

The league is also attracting record sums of money from sponsors and broadcasters. Conglomerate Tata Group won the title sponsorship rights of the tournament in January for a record 25 billion rupees ($300 million). Billionaire Mukesh Ambani’s media venture secured the digital streaming rights in 2022 for five years for $2.7 billion, while Walt Disney Co. paid roughly the same for TV rights.

“There was a serious amount of bidding even this year,” said Vinit Karnik, head of entertainment, esports and sports at media agency GroupM South Asia. “I see growth in IPL in double digits year-on-year,” he adds.

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