My heartiest congrats to Kumar Sangakkara for making the most of two of the flattest pitches you're likely to see in England. I expected him to fail and he most definitely would have if Sri Lanka had got Lords like pitch that India did....not pitches where Murali Vijay and Bhuvaneshwar are making hay.
Anyway so now his average in England is over 40, well done to the champ (a reprieve where the umpire didn't spot an edge helped but it is what it is).
For those who compared him to Lara and Ponting (and even Dravid) - lol. He is not even close to Ab de Villiers and against any side not named Pakistan/Bangladesh/Zimbabwe on non dead wickets, Pietersen is much better than him.
These are the left handed batsman's overall averages against different teams (his overall average is 58.55):
Vs Australia 43.90 1 century (century in the match where FTB Jayawardene scored a ton but obv when Sanga batted it became a minefield and a green top)
Vs England 40.20 3 centuries
Vs New Zealand 48.00 3 centuries
Vs South Africa 48.73 (courtesy 287 on his favourite pitch in a match where Jayawardene scored 500 runs)
Pakistan's attack is literally the only decent team(bowling attack wise) he averages 50+ against and if you would care to look at the scorecards of those matches, those were mostly 700 vs 600 kind of draws. Even against India he smashed on Abhimanyu Mithun and the likes at home...but when he goes to India he averages 36.5 despite a no-hope-match-gone bashing ton (much like his ton against England last time around with, an innings where Sehwag got him lbw a million times...that is for those who still whine about Hobart). His fans will whine about how his record in WI is meaningless because of sample size but will trumpet his record in Aus and Nz. I can't say about NZ, but if he goes to Aus now, he will get pwned by Harris and co. Of course he will retire without touring Aus and Nz again, will not want to spoil those records.
His record outside the subcontinent is still satisfactory (as opposed to great) despite all the flat pitch bashing in the recent series. Kudos to him for scoring 18/36 centuries against Bangladesh/Zimbabwe/Pakistan-Yasir Arafat, Danish Kaneria, Sohail Tanveer and whatever jokers but he will remain a flat pitch and weak opposition bully.
Abd is miles ahead of this bloke. Kohli already has 3 centuries outside the SC to this guy's 6 and will surpass him. On second thoughts, he doesn't take advantages of flat tracks as Sangakkara does. If this guy is comparable to Ponting and Lara, then Mohammad Yousuf and Inzamam also are.