He was a key part of the Sri Lankan squads which won the 2001-02 Asian Test Championship, 2002 ICC Champions Trophy and 2014 T20 World Cup.

[9] Academically successful, he was the school's Senior Prefect (Head Boy) and received its Trinity Lion and Ryde Gold Medal awards.

He had only moderate success as a batter, scoring 444 runs with a highest innings of 55; but he made his mark as a wicket-keeper by completing 33 dismissals (32 catches and one stumping).

He was impressed enough to describe Sangakkara as "a down to earth man, both intelligent and mature, who was unfazed by the situation and was immediately off the mark with a fluid square drive".

[28] Sangakkara played in all five of Sri Lanka's matches in the tournament, dismissing seven batters (3 caught, 4 stumped) and scoring 199 runs at 66.33 to secure his place in the upcoming Test series against South Africa.

In South Africa, he played in three Tests and six ODIs as well as some matches against provincial teams; Sri Lanka were heavily beaten in both series.

The second Test, played at the Asgiriya Stadium in Kandy, was highly controversial because of incompetent umpiring by B. C. Cooray whose errors probably cost Sri Lanka the match and the series.

[38] Seeking to defend their Premier Championship title, Nondescripts reached the play-off semi-final but lost to Colts by 2 wickets; Sangakkara scored 20 and 37.

West Indies batted first and scored 448, largely due to an innings of 178 by Brian Lara which ended when Sangakkara caught him behind off the bowling of Muralitharan.

The latter two contested the final at the Gaddafi Stadium in March and Sri Lanka won by 8 wickets after Sangakkara scored his first double-century with an innings of 230.

In between those tours, Sri Lanka played series in each of Australia (3), Bangladesh, India, New Zealand (2), Pakistan, South Africa, West Indies, and Zimbabwe.

[54] Pakistan toured Sri Lanka for two Test and three ODIs in March 2006, and with Atapattu still injured Jayawardene and Sangakkara remained captain and vice-captain respectively.

[55] The pair had only expected to hold the positions on an interim basis, but extended into a third series as Atapattu failed to recover in time to tour England in April and ended up filling the roles full-time.

[57] By this time, Sangakkara was effectively playing as a specialist batter in Test cricket, his wicket-keeping duties having been handed over to Prasanna Jayawardene.

[citation needed] His skill was recognised worldwide when he earned selection for the ICC World XI One-Day International team that competed against Australia in the Johnnie Walker Series in October 2005.

In the Sri Lanka Premier League which officially started in 2012, Sangakkara was named the captain and icon player of the Kandurata Warriors franchise.

Unfortunately, he couldn't participate as a player in the inaugural edition in 2012 as he suffered a finger injury weeks before the tournament during a One Day International against India.

[73] Throughout the tournament Sangakkara was in prolific form with the bat scoring 465 runs from 9 matches and was the third highest run-scorer behind teammate Tillakaratne Dilshan and India's Sachin Tendulkar.

[77] Days after guiding Sri Lanka to the finals of the World Cup, Sangakkara announced to the public he was stepping down as captain of the T20 and ODI teams.

I also had a two-year stint, and I enjoyed it at times, certainly on the field where our results showed we were one of the top two sides in the world for one-and-a-half years, especially in the shorter form of the game.

Before Sri Lanka's Test series against England in 2014, Sangakkara returned to county cricket, playing two matches for Durham,[101] which included 159 against Sussex in his final innings.

[126] Sangakkara's last ODI innings were disappointing from him and his teams' point of view, where Sri Lanka lost the quarter-final against South Africa on 18 March 2015.

It could be any reaction: a bit of anger, a show of arrogance, a comment, a shake of the head, or a slump of the shoulders.When Sangakkara retired from international cricket, he received praise from many sources which confirmed his popularity in the sport and underlined the respect his fellow professionals have always held for him.

India's captain Virat Kohli, for example, spoke of Sangakkara as "a lovely human being" who had been "a wonderful player for Sri Lanka" and someone whom "a lot of left-handers really look up to, for the way he plays".

[147] Sangakkara joined Sri Lanka's international selection committee on 7 March 2016, working with chairman Aravinda de Silva and fellow selectors Romesh Kaluwitharana, Ranjith Madurasinghe, and Lalith Kaluperuma.

[148] In 2021, Sangakkara was appointed to Sri Lanka Cricket's four-man technical advisory committee panel, again working with de Silva; the other two members were Muttiah Muralitharan and Roshan Mahanama.

[citation needed] In June 2021, Sangakkara was elected to the ICC Cricket Hall of Fame, the second Sri Lankan player after Muttiah Muralitharan to receive the honour.

[4][5] Yehali has accompanied him on tour including nearly two months in the West Indies for the 2007 Cricket World Cup, in which Sri Lanka were the runners-up.

[162] In December 2011, Sangakkara collaborated with Mahela Jayawardene and veteran chef Dharshan Munidasa to open the Ministry of Crab which has developed into one of Colombo's most successful restaurants.

[10] On 19 August 2015, just after the 2015 Sri Lankan parliamentary election, President Maithripala Sirisena appointed Sangakkara as Ambassador of Anti-narcotics, a program which aims to promote awareness of and reduce dependency on dangerous drugs.