Summiting Mount Tendulkar

Mahela Jayawardene – 10,806 runs, 31 centuries

One of the two bulwarks of the Sri Lankan batting lineup, Jayawardene has only scored 1,279 runs in his last 41 innings at an average of just above 31. If his form doesn’t improve substantially, he would require around 10 years to touch the magical mark of 16,000. Given his one-century-a-year strike rate of recent times, he would have to be around for a really long time to get to 50 centuries. The good thing though is that he has got age on his side to a certain extent (he is currently 36) to work his fortunes around.

Kumar Sangakkara – 10486 runs, 33 centuries

Kumara Sangakkara, if he can continue his rich vein of form, has a probable chance of surpassing Tendulkar’s 16,000 Test runs.

The other bulwark of the Sri Lankan middle order is in the form of his life with over 2,200 runs in his last 40 innings and 9 centuries including a double and an unbeaten 199. At the same rate he should reach 50 centuries or more the same time he touches 40 – which is 5 years from now. Getting to 16000 should take him another year which can be managed since he has given up his wicket-keeping duties and may give up on the shorter versions on the game in the near future. The very fact that Sri Lanka is one of the few teams left which plays a significant amount of Test cricket should help his cause.

So, according to our predictions, Kumar Sangakkara has the best chance of toppling both Test records set by the Master Blaster while Jacques Kallis can best his tally of centuries. Alastair Cook just might have new tasks cut out for him.