BackKumar Sangakkara offered post of Sri Lankan high commissioner to UK
Sangakkara, the fifth-highest run-getter in Test history, has already been appointed Ambassador Of Anti-narcotics Programme in Sri Lanka
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New Delhi: Sri Lanka’s president Maithripala Sirisena has offered the post of Sri Lankan high commisisoner to the UK to cricketer Kumar Sangakkara who retired from international cricket on Monday, an NDTV news report said.
Sirisena who was at the P. Sara Oval cricket grounds in Colombo on Monday at the end of the second India-Sri Lanka test match, felicitated the Sri Lankan cricketer and reportedly said: “I dont know what your plans are but I am offering you the post of Sri Lankan high commissioner to the UK."
Sangakkara’s response was awaited, the news report said. Both the UK and Sri Lanka are cricket playing nations and Sangakkara has appeared in English county cricket for Warwickshire, Durham and Surrey, a BBC Sport profile of the Sri Lankan cricketer said on its website.
Sangakkara, the fifth-highest run-getter in Test history, has already been appointed Ambassador Of Anti-narcotics Programme In Sri Lanka by Sirisena. He made 18 runs in his last international innings in the second test match against India on Sunday.
Sangakkara, 37, ends his 134-Test career with 12,400 runs at an average of 57.40, with 38 centuries and follows Sachin Tendulkar of India, Ricky Ponting of Australia, Jacques Kallis of South Africa and Rahul Dravid of India in the all-time list of leading Test scorers, according to an AFP report.
Sirisena, who was elected president of Sri Lanka in January, has been more balanced towards Western nations in comparison to his predecessor Mahinda Rajakapse.
Rajakapse, who was president in May 2009 when the three decade old civil war was formally ended after the killing of the Tamil Tiger rebel chief Vellupillai Prabakharan, has an adversarial relationship with Western countries including the UK and the US over alleged humn rights violations. To stave off the pressure, he cultivated closer ties with China.
In contrast, Sirisena and prime minister Ranil Wickremesinghe, are seen as friendly to Western countries.
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