Kumar Sangakkara

Kumar Sangakkara's batting was a study in unhurried precision, the left-hander's upright stance and silky drives making the game look almost meditative. He built innings with the patience of a scholar, content to leave early deliveries before unfurling a repertoire of cover drives and delicate glances. His greatest gift may have been his adaptability: he opened in Twenty20 cricket, kept wicket in ODIs, and anchored Test innings with equal poise.

A wicketkeeper-batter of rare completeness, Sangakkara served Sri Lanka in every format for 15 years, finishing with more than 12,000 Test runs at an average above 57. His 38 Test centuries include a monumental 319 against Bangladesh, and he added 25 hundreds in ODIs, four of them in consecutive innings at the 2015 World Cup. A winner's medal at the 2014 World T20 capped a white-ball career of remarkable consistency, sealed with a match-winning innings in the final. Off the field, his 2011 MCC Spirit of Cricket lecture became a modern classic of the genre, and his captaincy of Sri Lanka during a turbulent era earned wide respect. Since retiring in 2015, he has served as MCC president, mentored franchises and worked as a team director in the IPL, his judgment as sought-after as his cover drive once was.