Junaid Khan (Left) has had good success against Kumar Sangakkara (Right) in the recent past © Getty Images
Junaid Khan (Left) has had good success against Kumar Sangakkara (Right) in the past © Getty Images

Kumar Sangakkara is not far away from bidding farewell from all forms of cricket, having already retired from One-Day Internationals (ODIs), he would wish to make full use of the possible last three Tests of his career to finish on a high. He has often been the nemesis for Pakistan in whites and in the absence of Saeed Ajmal, Nikhil Popat opines, Junaid Khan could be the answer for Pakistan against the legendary southpaw.

Kumar Sangakkara is in prime form, he hit four tons in as many games in the recently concluded ICC Cricket World Cup 2015 to set a new world record. He retired from the 50-over format after that and reportedly has three Tests before he hangs up his boots from the game of cricket. READ: Sri Lanka vs Pakistan, 1st at Galle: Preview

His first couple of Tests are coming against an oppositionhe loves to bat against. Of all the Test playing nations, he has his third best average against Pakistan, a whopping 80.25 with as many as 10 Test tons to go with 11 fifties. The below table illustrates the same:

OPPOSITION

M

I

R

HS

Avs

100s

50s

Bangladesh

15

21

1816

319

95.57

7

7

Zimbabwe

5

6

536

270

89.33

2

1

Pakistan

21

41

2809

230

80.25

10

11

India

15

24

1257

219

57.13

5

2
  West Indies

12

19

918

157*

54

3

5

New Zealand

12

21

887

203

49.27

4

2

South Africa

17

32

1534

287

47.93

3

7

Australia

11

21

878

192

43.9

1

7

England

22

40

1568

152

40.2

3

9

He will wish to continue his domination over Pakistan and the visitors will know that they will need to get past him to stand a chance. With no Mahela Jayawardene, it becomes more important for Pakistan to find a way to get past the southpaw and expose the relatively weaker middle-order for the hosts. The last time they played in Sri Lanka, they were whitewashed 0-2 and have not won a Test series against them since 2011. READ: Sri Lanka vs Pakistan 2015, 1st Test at Galle: SL likely XI

Abdur Rehman has been the most successful for them, dismissing Sangakkara five times in seven Tests at an average of 105.80 followed by Saeed with just four dismissals out of 14 matches at an average of 62.25. With neither of them playing, the next best for Pakistan is Junaid Khan and it is not a surprising fact.

Sangakkara scores against all types of bowlers but has his least impressive numbers against left-arm pace bowlers. His career average which sits at 58.66 drops down to a mere 22.73. Interestingly, Sangakkara’s average against Junaid is not quite good as well; he averages just 22.66 with three dismissals against Junaid. READ: Kumar Sangakkara looks to build on prolific Test record during Pakistan series ahead of retirement

Sangakkara’s average against different attacks:

Bowler Ave
Right-arm pace

47.28
Right-arm spin

74.85
Left-arm pace

22.73
Left-arm spin

54.56

Junaid was not at his best in the series against Bangladesh, picking up just five wickets in a couple of Tests. But the very fact that Junaid has played most of his Tests against Sri Lanka is good for Pakistan. Junaid has taken five five-wicket hauls in Tests and not surprisingly, all of those have come against Sri Lanka. He will be itching to get back to his wicket taking form against an opposition he has had success against and if he gets rid of the danger man Sangakkara, Misbah-ul-Haq and his team might have a real, real chance of winning a Test series in Sri Lanka; 2006 was the last time they won a Test series in Sri Lanka when they won the two-match Test series 1-0. READ: Kumar Sangakkara to retire after 1st Test against India at Galle

 (Nikhil Popat is a diehard cricket enthusiast and a PotterHead till the end of time. He can be followed on Twitter @CricCrazyNIKS)