document_title: GEICO advertising campaigns

question_text: who does the voice of the geico lizard

question_tokens: who does the voice of the geico lizard

text: GEICO advertising campaigns

text: Animated advertisements[edit]

text: Animated advertisements were part of the early GEICO Direct ads as well as the "Dumb Things" campaign. The 15-second long commercials, animated by Bill Plympton, featured a curious little man walking up to an object and eventually getting hurt due to his curiosity of the object.[6] One of the commercials, for example, involved him finding a cannon and pressing a button, causing a resulting cannonball to fire out and stick to his face. The original saying in the commercial was "You could still save money on car insurance. Even if you made a few mistakes."; later modified to "We all do dumb things. Paying too much for car insurance doesn't have to be one of them."[7]

text: The Gecko[edit]

text: The company's ads sometimes focus on its reptilian mascot, The Gecko, an anthropomorphic Day Gecko created by The Martin Agency, modified in 2005 to a CGI character by Animation Director David Hulin and his team at Framestore. The gecko first appeared in 1999, during the Screen Actors Guild strike that prevented the use of live actors.[8] The original commercial features the Gecko, voiced by actor Kelsey Grammer, who climbs onto a microphone on a podium and utters "This is my final plea: I am a gecko, not to be confused with GEICO, which could save you hundreds on car insurance. So, STOP CALLING ME!", before licking his eye. Later "wrong number" ads used Dave Kelly as the voice of the gecko. In the subsequent commercials with Jake Wood[9] (which portray him as a representative of the company), the gecko speaks with a British Cockney accent, because it would be unexpected, according to Martin Agency's Steve Bassett. In 2010s commercials, the gecko's accent is more working-class, perhaps in an effort to further "humanize" him.[10] "As computer animation got better and as we got to know the character better, we did a few things," says Steve Bassett, creative director at The Martin Agency. "We wanted to make him a little more guy-next-door. And he looks a lot more real than he's looked before."[8] Chelsea Clinton, daughter of former president Bill Clinton and then-Secretary of State and 2016 Democratic Presidential candidate Hillary Clinton, interviewed the Geico Gecko in April 2013.[11] He had since became GEICO's longest running mascot, appearing in more than 150 commercials as of 2017.

text: Maxwell the pig[edit]

text: Maxwell is an anthropomorphic talking pig and recurring character in GEICO advertisements. Maxwell debuted in an installment of the Rhetorical Questions campaign as the "little piggy who cried 'wee wee wee' all the way home" (referencing the famous nursery rhyme "This Little Piggy") being driven home by a friend's mother, squealing along the way. While Maxwell was originally intended as a one-time character, the popularity of his debut commercial resulted in him being spun off into his own series of commercials which usually feature him as a tech-savvy, informative pig who is most concerned with his GEICO-related objects.

text: Cavemen[edit]

text: A popular series of well-received advertisements uses cavemen as pitchmen. Also developed by the Martin Agency, the ads center on Neanderthal-like cavemen, no different from modern-day individuals (outside of somewhat prehistoric facial features), encountering either an ad or commercial with the tagline "GEICO: so easy a caveman could do it," followed by their disgust with the supposed stereotype of caveman stupidity. The ads posit a world where cavemen are still alive and active members of society in the present day, behaving and living nothing at all like the stereotypical caveman. The main characters presented in the ads are affluent, educated, and cultured, eating at fancy restaurants, going to exclusive parties, and seeing their therapists (portrayed in the commercials by two-time Oscar-nominated actress Talia Shire). The humor revolves around the relative normality of the cavemen's presence and their reactions to the stereotype represented in the ads, and their attempts at defending themselves from the stereotype.

text: The ads were so successful that the commercial actors are appearing in a successful series of interactive websites written and produced by GEICO's in-house creative team at Caveman's Crib and most recently, iHeartcavemen. A spin-off TV series, titled Cavemen and starring new actors, debuted on ABC in October 2007[12] to overwhelmingly negative critical reaction. It was canceled after only six episodes were aired.

text: Parodies[edit]

text: Another common theme is misdirection, in which the commercial appears to be about an unrelated product (or, in fact, may not even be a commercial), suddenly changing to become a plug for GEICO. The commercials use a variety of fictional characters such as Speed Racer, Chatty Cathy, Jed Clampett, and Bill Dutchess. Other commercials relate to a hair loss doctor who has saved by switching to GEICO, a nature show about a fish, workout with Tony Little, and a soap opera of a couple who are breaking up. Another set of GEICO ads involved a fictional reality show called "Tiny House" in which contestants were forced to live in a half-scale house.

text: An additional commercial theme is the promotion of fictional products. In 2006 parody ads featured such products as long distance phone service, tomato soda, fast-food, a reality TV show, dolls, and even poking fun at the Old Navy commercials – in all cases, the parody portion of the ad ends with "but it won't save you any money on car insurance." After the GEICO slogan is heard, the commercials end with "Why haven't you called GEICO?" Including Wonder Glue.

text: The parody pitch crossed over to the Caveman campaign in 2007, in a 10-second spot that appears to be a talking heads news interview, but features the popular caveman.

text: In response to some of the parody ads, Seth Green and Matthew Senreich wrote a sketch using the character C in a parody of one of the celebrity ads for their second Robot Chicken Star Wars special.

text: MADtv also made a sketch parodying these ads using characters of Elmo (who was performed by Frank Caeti) and Carlos Mencia (who was played by Johnny Sanchez).

text: Actor Scott Whyte has made a series of commercial parodies, calling the company, "Schmeiko", while performing a series of impressions.

text: "I've got good news"[edit]

text: In another ad campaign, a character would be breaking bad news to another (such as a baseball manager replacing a struggling pitcher with a reliever), but then offers helpfully, "I've got good news: I just saved a bunch of money on my car insurance by switching to GEICO!" That news, of course, is of no immediate use at all to the other character(s). Some of the ads were parodies and/or featured celebrities including, for example, Esteban; one featured the popular anime character Speed Racer. The exchange became parodied for a time while the ads were popular. One of the most watched "I've got good news" spots was a soap opera parody featuring television actor Sebastian Siegel.

text: Bland salesman[edit]

text: In another series of ads, a GEICO pitchman is played by actor Jerry Lambert in an extremely bland and understated way, parodying the stereotype of an insurance man, such as reading to a group of uninterested children from a book of fairy tales about insurance, watching a view of cats in the living room where a gecko is standing on the couch, relaxing on a hot tub with a couple, and a flashback about "Honk If You Like". In one segment, he reads a supposed e-mail from a viewer saying it would be "da bomb" (i.e., something good), if the Gecko would do a dance called "The Robot". Cut to the Gecko doing that dance smoothly and gracefully (to the tune of a not-for-public-sale melody called "Sweet World" by a group called Omega Men,[13] which was used in the arcade video game In the Groove 2) and then back to the insurance salesman attempting to do the same dance, seemingly more stiffly than an actual robot would. The newest commercial featuring the GEICO gecko depicts the Gecko receiving a business suit from the salesman, in order to present a more professional appearance, but he declines.

text: "Real service, real savings"[edit]

text: In this campaign, a real GEICO customer would present his/her testimonials, while a celebrity standing next to, or behind, the customer uses his/her signature styles to help get the customer's word across.

text: Some of these celebrities included:

text:
Peter Graves (1926–2010)
Peter Frampton
Burt Bacharach
Little Richard
Mrs. Butterworth
Joan Rivers (1933–2014)
The Pips (1952–1989)
Charo
James Lipton
Michael Winslow
Verne Troyer
Don LaFontaine (1940–2008)

text: The slogan exclusive to this campaign is "GEICO: Real service, real savings".

text: My Great Rides[edit]

text: In 2007, GEICO also launched a social networking site, My Great Rides, for motorcycle owners. My Great Rides is a place for cycle owners to share stories about trips they have taken on their bikes, as well as post pictures of their motorcycles, and comment on other members' stories and pictures. My Great Rides was taken down on 27 February 2012.[14]

text: GEICO Racing[edit]

text: The number 7 car of the NASCAR Nationwide Series is driven by Mike Wallace and was sponsored by GEICO prior to 2009.[15][16] Commercials involving the race team are of a memorably disdainful young boy, played by actor Eddie Heffernan claiming to be a relative of Mike Wallace and being a better driver.[17] The boy says, "When people see Mike Wallace and the GEICO number 7 doing well, they'll think of saving a bunch of money on car insurance. But when they see me, they'll say, 'There goes Lauren Wallace; the greatest thing to ever climb into a race car.'"[18]

text: The commercials are sometimes presented in an interview fashion, where an unseen narrator speaks to the ambitious go-kart driver. "What do you think of Mike Wallace?" the child is asked, to which he responds, "Whatever, he's out there selling car insurance, I'm out there to win." When questioned on his relation to the NASCAR driver, Lauren shakes his head and concludes, "I didn't say I wouldn't go fishing with the man, all I'm saying is if he comes near me, I'll put him in the wall." To which the narrator questions him, "You don't race in the Busch Series." Lauren replies "Listen, go-kart track, grocery store, those remote controlled boats; when it comes to Mike Wallace the story ends with me putting him in the wall."

text: New ads in this lineup include Lauren referring to himself as being, "100 miles away and ready to strike," and "lightning in a bottle."

text: The success of those ads resulted in the launch of an interactive website written and produced by GEICO's in-house creative team at GEICO Garage. The site includes cameo appearances by Lauren Wallace and drivers Mike Wallace, his daughter Chrissy Wallace, Speed TV's Tommy Kendall, Paul Tracy, Christian Fittipaldi and Max Papis.

text: TRS: The Real Scoop[edit]

text: Introduced in 2 August 2007, this series of ads features an E! True Hollywood Story-type show about famed fictional characters such as Fred Flintstone, Jed Clampett, and even a Cabbage Patch Kid named Ben Winkler claiming to have their cars (the Flintmobile, Jed's 1923 Oldsmobile truck, and a Plymouth Reliant/Dodge Aries, respectively) insured by GEICO, featuring interviews with made-up investigators (however, the Ben Winkler spot does not have an interview). These commercials were voiced over by narrator David O'Brien.

text: "The money you could be saving"[edit]

text: Starting in 2008, GEICO has aired a series of TV ads featuring two paper-banded stacks of U.S. bills with a pair of big, googly eyes on top. Kash, who never says anything, just sits and stares at people (in a manner intended to be unsettling), set to a remix of a Rockwell/Michael Jackson song, "Somebody's Watching Me" by Mysto & Pizzi.

text: Rhetorical question campaign[edit]

text: Toward the end of 2009 until mid 2012, GEICO introduced another advertising campaign in which Mike McGlone walks into an empty room and queries the viewer, "Could switching to GEICO really save you 15% or more on car insurance?" After this, he pauses and then asks a rhetorical and/or obvious question which is immediately followed by a scene cut to the subject at hand. Such questions have included (in no particular order):

text: Television[edit]

text:
Is Ed "Too Tall" Jones too tall?: (Cuts to Jones in a doctor's office being measured for his height, even though he is too tall for the maximum length of the measure. The nurse then says, "I'm just gonna guesstimate.")
Does Charlie Daniels play a mean fiddle?: (Cuts to Daniels energetically playing a fiddle in a classy restaurant after taking it from a violinist. Once he finishes, he hands it back and states "That's how you do it, son".)
Does Elmer Fudd have trouble with the letter R?: (Cuts to Elmer hunting and telling the audience to be "vewy quiet" while he's "hunting wabbits", the director correcting his rhotacism to the former's frustration, and eventually stalking off the screen while muttering about how "this diwector is starting to wub (him) the wong way".)
Did The Waltons take way too long to say good night?: (Cuts to the Walton family saying "good night" to each other numerous times.)
Does a ten-pound bag of flour make a really big biscuit?: (Cuts to a child buttering an enormous biscuit on the kitchen counter humming as his mom walks in with a dismayed look upon her face.)
Did the caveman invent fire?: (Cuts to the GEICO caveman sitting in a living room on a couch with a female companion. He looks disdainfully at the camera, then activates the fireplace by remote control before scowling at the camera once more.)
Was Abe Lincoln honest?: (Cuts to an old-style black and white film of Mary Todd Lincoln asking "Does this dress make my backside look big?" After a lengthy pause and deliberation, Lincoln sheepishly responds, saying "Perhaps a ...", interrupted as she gets up and walks out perturbed.)
Is having a snowball fight with pitching great Randy Johnson a bad idea?: (Cuts to Johnson helping a man to his feet, the latter with a hole in the arm of his jacket, in a snowy street. After lamenting the heavily damaged garage door behind them, they agree to go sledding instead.)
Is a bird in the hand worth two in the bush?: (Cuts to an Antiques Roadshow appraiser examining a small statue of a human hand holding a bird. He tells the statue's owner that it is indeed worth at least two in the bush.)
Can fútbol announcer Andrés Cantor make any sport exciting?: (Cuts to Cantor loudly and energetically calling a slow-paced chess match. When one player makes a move, he yells his trademark "GOOAAALLL!" much to the players' annoyance)
Does a former drill sergeant make a terrible therapist?: (Cuts to R. Lee Ermey talking to a man on a psychiatrist's couch, then abruptly yelling at him for crying and then throws a box of tissues at him, calling him a crybaby.)
Do woodchucks chuck wood?: (Cuts to a jovial pair of woodchucks throwing chopped logs into a pond and being admonished by the farmer who chopped them.)
Did the little piggy cry 'wee wee wee' all the way home?? (Cuts to a pig named Maxwell riding in the back seat of an SUV holding pinwheels, yelling "wee wee wee" out the window, before being dropped off at his house by his friend's exasperated mother.) (See section Maxwell the Pig)
Does it take two to tango?: (Cuts to a man and woman dancing the tango while another man tries to dance with them.)
What, do you live under a rock?: (Cuts to a man living underground who moves a rock so he can raise his head above ground to see outside, and then gets excited when he sees a GEICO billboard and invites his friend Rick to move his own rock and take a peek.)
Does the buck stop here?; (The camera zooms out as a deer walks onto the soundstage and stops next to McGlone, who then shrugs his shoulders.)
Do dogs chase cats?: (Cuts to a dog and cat engaged in a Bullitt-style car chase.)
Would Foghorn Leghorn make a really bad book narrator?: (Cuts to a recording studio where Foghorn is reading A Tale of Two Cities – his ad-libbing and talking over the director cause an exasperated Henery Hawk to get up from the control panel and whack him with a club.)
Is the pen mightier than the sword?: (Cuts to a ninja menacingly demonstrating his swordsmanship to his opponent, who countermaneuvers by using a pen to sign for the delivery of his new taser, with which he promptly dispatches the ninja.)
Do people use smartphones to do dumb things?: (Cuts to three office workers using very silly smartphone apps to help celebrate the end of the workweek.)

text: Radio[edit]

text:
Would helium make opera sound less stuffy?: (Cuts to male opera singer singing in a deep voice, then inhaling helium, and continuing in a high-pitched voice.)
Do mimes make even less sense when you can't see them?: (Cuts to a narrator describing a mime pretending to be inside an invisible box.)
Is sneaking out of a really boring meeting while wearing tap shoes a bad idea?: (Cuts to a boring meeting with tap shoes in the background, until the boss catches on.)
Does a rolling stone gather no moss?: (Cuts to the sound of a boulder rolling through various things until it crashes to a stop, with McGlone then saying, "No moss – you're gonna have to trust me on this one.")
Do only dogs hear dog whistles?: (Cuts to the sound of someone breathing in, then blowing in a dog whistle a few times, before being interrupted by several barking dogs.)
If a tree falls in the forest and no one is around, does it make a noise?: (Cuts to the sound of a tree falling and crashing, with McGlone then saying, "Yep.")
Is texting getting way out of hand?: (McGlone then begins to elaborate, but is interrupted and distracted by several incoming texts, ultimately responding to one message with "LOL, UR my BFF.")

text: Short Stories and Tall Tales[edit]

text: Starting in 2010, there have been TV commercials in which a nursery rhyme, being read to the audience from an illustrated book entitled Short Stories and Tall Tales, turns into an ad for GEICO homeowner's and renters insurance:

text:
In one, the cow who jumped over the moon crashes down through someone's roof; luckily, the owner was insured with GEICO.
In another, Jack Be Nimble accidentally knocked over a candlestick onto the shagged carpeting and insured with GEICO because of his flaming pants, his new pants are bought from Banana Republic.
In another, Baa Baa Black Sheep got three bags of wool taken and insured GEICO, but the hooligan down the lane is caught, selling the stolen goods online.
In another, the Itsy Bitsy Spider's home is flooded as a result of a clogged downspout, and his mattress is ruined; thanks to GEICO, he now has a "Sleep Number" bed. His sleep number is 25.
Little Jack Horner sat in a corner on a department and insured GEICO with renters insurance, it turns out Little Jack Horner got his stomach pumped because of eating a 6-month-old Christmas pie.
Little Bo Peep accidentally broke into her apartment and got her sheep stolen.
A burglar breaks into Little Miss Muffet's house and steals her tuffets, which were fortunately insured. The burglar was later caught, given away by a whey stain.
Goldilocks breaks into the home of the Three Bears, eats some porridge, breaks a chair, and steals their laptop. Thanks to GEICO insurance, the Bears are able to replace their things, including a new chair from Crate & Barrel.
After his straw house is blown away by the Big Bad Wolf, the Little Pig is able to build a more elaborate straw house thanks to GEICO homeowner's insurance. The Wolf then gets a job blowing at a wind farm.
Hansel and Gretel broke outside the Gingerbread house and ate the whole roof, then GEICO Homeowners Insurance gets the roof covered for the witch. Hansel and Gretel are sent through the candy cane forest.
An old woman who lived in a shoe buys groceries when burglars broke into her shoe and avoids stolen things with juice press for GEICO Homeowners Insurance, then gets a job for the Mountain Bike Juice Delivery Service.
Mary and her lamb turned out her dress is ruined by an electrical fire and takes a hobby at Bloomingdale's for her new dress and exclusively for little lambs after using GEICO Renters Insurance.
Jack and Jill are about to fetch water from a well until an overflowing kitchen sink sprung a leak, and they use GEICO Homeowners Insurance, and they went to fetch lattes and almond milk instead of just water.

text: Xtranormal[edit]

text: Near the end of 2010, a new advertising campaign began made up of amateurish computer animated advertisements, supposedly made in 15 minutes, created with the computer software program Xtranormal.[19]

text: "Easier Way to Save"[edit]

text: Starting in the summer of 2011, a new series of advertising involved people discovering unusual ways to save money.

text: Television[edit]

text:
A couple teaching their 6-year-old son how to dunk a basketball in order to help him get a scholarship, with him getting stuck on the basket.
A dog and a cockatoo playing A-Ha's "Take on Me" because their owner can't afford to keep downloading music.
A sea captain living as a roommate, rehearsing "Major-General's Song."
A woman turning her daughter's pet fish into her husband's meal.
Robots hired in a daycare center because they "work for free".
Three guinea pigs rowing their boat to produce electricity for their owner's computer.
A couple adopting a black rescue panther who can protect their house.
A man singing a personal ad to the tune of Bonnie Tyler's "Total Eclipse of the Heart" because dating websites cost too much money.
Three middle school girls criticize on what the man is eating, only to watch his weight.
A family forming their own theme park.
Boy Scouts using paintball guns to decorate a couple's living room.
A man adopting a pet possum for his kids, as a cheaper alternative to a puppy.

text: Radio commercials[edit]

text:
A man who tries to cut his wife's hair, while she sleeps, instead of going to the hairstylist.
A man who can only rely on toll-free numbers.
A man consolidating his 5 daughters' weddings into one day.
A woman carpooling with her daughter's school bus.
An umpire who cannot pay for his contacts, using the lost pair of eyeglasses he found.
A man turning his bathroom shower into an amusement attraction, instead of taking his family to an amusement park.
A man using carrier pigeons to send letters because of the high cost of postage stamps.
A man who can't spend money on the Internet for his home, thus using his neighbor's unprotected connection.
A woman who is dreaming of being in Machu Picchu because she cannot buy airline tickets.

text: "Brighter side"[edit]

text: This campaign shows two people in a sticky situation. One of them is not as worried as the other, explaining "I'm looking on the brighter side. I save over 15% on my car insurance by switching to GEICO." Commercials from this campaign include:

text:
A magician feels guilty for sawing his assistant in half.
A woman and her neighbor observe a fallen giant in the middle of her garden.
Two fisherman are being abducted by aliens and fear what the aliens are going to do with them.
Divers have been swallowed by a whale.

text: "Get Happy, Get GEICO"[edit]

text: From early-2012 to early 2013, GEICO had a family of commercials where bluegrass pickers named Ronnie (played by director/musician Alex Harvey) and Jimmy (played by actor/comedian Timothy Ryan Cole) talk about how happy saving money on insurance can make someone do certain things intended to be humorous:

text:
Happier than Gallagher at a Farmer's market: Gallagher runs amok at a farmer's market, smashing watermelons with a huge mallet and laughing maniacally.[20]
Happier than a Bodybuilder Directing Traffic: A smiling bodybuilder is standing in an intersection and directing traffic while striking poses.[21] This was the last commercial from the Get Happy, Get GEICO series to ever come on TV, having last aired on 19 March 2016.[22]
Happier than Christopher Columbus with Speedboats: Christopher Columbus is shown on a speeding motoboat, accompanied by two other boats, while a crew member looks seasick.[23]
Happier than Eddie Money running a travel agency: A family is shown sitting in front of a desk in an office. An excited Eddie Money is then shown behind the desk holding airline tickets, where he begins singing (a cappella), "Two Tickets to Paradise" while the family appears increasingly annoyed.[24]
Happier than a Witch at a Broom Factory: A witch is seen flying around on a broom inside of a broom factory. She lands and demands another broom from one of the employees and begins flying again, laughing and having fun.[25]
Happier than a Slinky on an Escalator: A Slinky is seen stepping backwards on an up escalator. While the Slinky goes backwards, others try to avoid it as they go to work and the slinky says "This is Awesome!"[26]
Happier than an Antelope with Nightvision Goggles: Two antelopes are seen watching a lion through nightvision goggles. The two are secretly laughing at the lion and his poor stealth skills (they incorrectly and sarcastically label the lion as "king of the jungle" – the correct term is "king of beasts").[27]
Happier than Dikembe Mutombo Blocking a Shot: Dikembe Mutombo appears blocking various things that people throw, such as a crumpled piece of paper, a pile of laundry, and a box of cereal. The GEICO Logo then appears and Mutombo knocks off the "G". It's "EICO" now.[28]
Happier than Paul Revere with a Cell phone: Paul Revere who is inside a home in Concord, Massachusetts, notices a bell ringing from a church. As he looks out the window, he calls on his cell phone and warns that the British are coming. Afterwards, he returns to his guests and plays charades.[29]
Happier than Dracula Volunteering at a Blood Drive: At a blood drive, Dracula Actor Frankie Ray asks a man his blood type and what he ate today. The man replies either A or B positive and that he ate Lebanese food. Dracula says that he loves the Lebanese. He then excitedly decides to skip the formalities and "get started". He is then seen following the man out at the end.[30]
Happier than the Pillsbury Doughboy on his way to a Baking Convention: At an airport, the Pillsbury Doughboy is going through airport security, but every time the security guard tries to pat him down, he is easily tickled. He promises to hold it together, but keeps failing. Once he gets on his way, the Doughboy sings along as Ronny and Jimmy continue playing the guitar.[31]
Happier than a Camel on Wednesday/Hump Day[32]: At an office, a camel asks workers what day it is. A woman (originally named Leslie) tells him that it is Hump day. The camel whoops with excitement.[33] This commercial soon received over 22 million views on YouTube and inspired a popular Internet meme. The camel appeared in the pregame show of Super Bowl XLVIII where he was named Caleb. Caleb also appeared with the Gecko in a crossover ad with M&M's.[34]

text: Museum of Modern Insurance[edit]

text: This campaign involves paintings in a museum encouraging their fellow paintings to switch to GEICO.

text:
A mountain climber in an "ACHIEVEMENT" motivational picture feels accomplished for climbing the mountain. The cat in the painting beneath says he saved hundreds on car insurance with GEICO, and draws a question mark next to "ACHIEVEMENT".
An excited cat tells a mouse on a teeter-totter that he saved a bunch on car insurance with GEICO, and that they should celebrate. The mouse thinks this is a bad idea. The cat launches the mouse into the air and prepares to eat him, but is beaten to it by an eagle in the motivational picture above.
A teacher asks his student to fill in the blank: "Fifteen Minutes could save you [blank] on car insurance." The student answers 9%, which the teacher says is incorrect and asks his pterodactyls, Steve and Rick, to "go to work," to which the student replies "Not again!".
A painting of Washington crossing the Delaware River notices a cat in front of them, and proceeds to ask the cat to get out of the way, claiming he doesn't want her to scratch the vessel, "for [he is] drifting, uninsured." She tells him that he needs to get insured right "meow," via calling GEICO. Her torso then falls off the painting to reveal a phone keypad, and one of the rowers pushes the buttons with his oar.
Dogs player poker ask for their friend called Rudy/Mr.Tickles, who is in a photo of him and his owner. The owner saved so much money by switching to GEICO that he wanted a photo to commemorate the occasion.
Uncle Sam talks to a family of people wearing "mom jeans".
A little girl asks her mother where babies come from, and in return the mother asks if her daughter knew that GEICO was saving people money for over 75 years. The mother then shouts "DINNER!" before the daughter can ask her question again.
Two 1980s valley girls fall for a band student whose grandparents have been saving money with GEICO for more than 75 years. The photo for the band student is the same photo used for the meme "PTSD Clarinet Boy".

text: "Did You Know?"[edit]

text: From mid-June 2013 to late 2014, a family of TV ads came on where one person reads a GEICO ad, which has the well-known tagline (often with the Gecko in it as well) and a second person says "Everybody knows that." to which the first person says, "Well, did you know ..." followed by an amusing (and fictional) "fact" which is then illustrated in a cutaway scene.[35] Prior to Did You Know Pinocchio Was a Bad Motivational Speaker?, the closing line was temporarily changed to "GEICO: 15 minutes could save you... well, you know."

text:
Did You Know That Some Owls Aren't That Wise?: A female owl is talking to her owl husband about having lunch with her co-worker Meghan, and the husband owl constantly responds "Who?"[36]
Did You Know Old MacDonald Was a Really Bad Speller?: Old MacDonald is a contestant in a spelling bee, and is asked to spell "cow". He spells it "C-O-W, E-I-E-I-O." The buzzer goes off, indicating that he's wrong, and he exclaims, "Dangnabbit" and exits the stage, exasperated (the "Dangnabbit" line would since then evolve into a viral quote).[37]
Did you know the Ancient Pyramids were actually a mistake?: An overseer is monitoring the construction of the Pyramids when he looks at the blueprints and sees that they were supposed to be cubes. He then says, "Uh-oh."[38]
Did you know that when a tree falls in the forest and no one is around, it does make a sound?: An anthropomorphized tree starts to tip, leading the tree to start shouting that it's going to fall. As it falls, the tree screams until it hits the ground. The tree then asks, "A little help?"[39]
Did You Know That Houdini Couldn't Escape from Everything?: Houdini comes up with something stuck in between his fingers and can't escape from them. He says to his mom, "Help, you gotta get me out of this!"[40]
Did You Know There Is an Oldest Trick in the Book?: In the Medieval era, an old man reads to a young apprentice from a large book: "Trick Number One ... Lookest over there." The apprentice looks in the direction indicated, and the old man says, "Ha-ha! Made-est thou look. So end-eth the trick."[41]
Did You Know Auctioneers Make Bad Grocery store Clerks?: A cashier in a grocery store tells a customer what the total of her purchase is, then starts rapidly "auctioning" it, taking bids from the woman and the man in line behind her.[42]
Did You Know Pinocchio Was a Bad Motivational Speaker?: A life-size Pinocchio gives a speech about noticing untapped potential. He points to a select few saying, "You have potential", but his nose grows every time, shocking the audience and indicating that he was lying.[43] An extended version of this commercial was posted on YouTube. In it, Pinocchio begins feeling stressed out from his book failing, ultimately he decides to write a new book.
Did You Know Bad News Doesn't Always Travel Fast?: A boss, personified as a snail, fires one of his employees, Todd. He then says, "Well, gotta run", and slowly crawls away.[44]
Did You Know Game Show Hosts Should Only Host Game Shows?: A game show host delivers the wedding vows at a wedding, but he asks the bride if she takes her husband or a new sports car, at which point the camera cuts to the car being given away as a prize. She dumps her husband for the car right there at the altar.[45]
Did You Know Playing Cards with Kenny Rogers Gets Old Pretty Fast?: Rogers plays poker while singing the lyrics from "The Gambler", which annoys the others.[46] This was the last commercial from the Did You Know? series to ever be played on TV, having last aired on 30 November 2015.[47]
Did You Know Words Really Can Hurt You?: A cowboy breaks up with his girlfriend, and rides off into the sunset, but when the words "The End" appear, he crashes into the "E" in "End" and is knocked off his horse.[48]
Did You Know the Great Wall of China Wasn't Always So Great?: An army of Mongols ride up to a fence-sized Wall of China. After a few moments of contemplation, they simply step over it and proceed on their way.[49]
Did You Know Former Pro Football Player Ickey Woods Will Celebrate Almost Anything?: Woods is seen at a deli counter and does his touchdown dance, the Ickey Shuffle, and yells out, "Gonna get some cold cuts today!" when his number 44 is called.[50]
Did You Know Certain Cartoon Characters Should Never Have an Energy Drink?: A commercial for an energy drink is being filmed, starring the Tasmanian Devil; after drinking the product, he spins out of control and leaves the set. The GEICO ad appears to be over as an entirely different commercial in another room advertises the "Birds of America collection" (50 state bird hand-painted china plate collection). It is then promptly given a "bull in a china shop" treatment when Taz bursts through the wall from the other commercial and demolishes the plates and displays.[51]
Did You Know Genies Can Be Really Literal?: A man finds a genie in a lamp and wishes for "a million bucks", clearly meaning "$1 million". The genie proceeds to grant him a million male deers.[52] This bit was extended into a web series.

text: "It's what you do"[edit]

text: From late 2014 to 2017, a family of commercials featured people doing irrelevant or weird actions, while in the end the long-time endboard narrator says, "If (you're) [. . .], you [. . .]. It's what you do. If you want to save 15% or more on car insurance, you switch to GEICO. It's what you do." When the ads appear in a movie theater before the previews start, the second line would be replaced with, "If you're in the movie theater, you silence your cell phone. It's what you do."

text:
If You're in a Horror Movie, You Make Poor Decisions: Four teenagers representing characters in a generic horror movie are running from a madman near an eerie farmhouse. They argue about whether to hide in the basement or the attic of the house, and when one girl suggests they get into the conveniently running car just behind them, the others call her crazy. Someone else suggests they go into the barn filled with chainsaws, and as they hide there the madman lurking behind them takes off his mask and shakes his head at their stupidity. The advertisement ends with the teenagers running from the madman toward the cemetery.
If You're Salt-N-Pepa, You Tell People to Push It - Salt-N-Pepa sing "Push It" to various people, including a businessman at the entrance doors, a woman on an elevator, a pregnant woman practicing the Lamaze technique, football players pushing against tackling dummies, and a man mowing his front lawn.
If You're a Camel, You Put Up with This All the Time - In reference to the viral "Hump Day" ad, a bunch of people at the zoo quote the ad to the camels, who are annoyed by it. One camel, named Phil, even complains that it is not even Wednesday.
If Something Goes Wrong, You Find a Scapegoat - At a peanut butter factory, the machines act haywire. The boss asks who is to blame, and a worker points to a goat named Rick, who then screams.
If You're a Free Range Chicken, You Roam Free: A chicken travels the world and texts selfie MMS's to its owners while "Ride Away" by Roy Orbison plays.
If You're a Cat, You Ignore People: A guy out in the desert falls into some quicksand, sees a cat and asks it for help, but the cat just stands there.
If You're Dora the Explorer, You Explore: A group of people struggle against harsh polar conditions to travel to the South Pole, but just as they're about to plant their flag to stake their claim, they find that Dora the Explorer and Boots are already there to greet them. The travelers walk away while Dora and Boots do a dance and say, "You did it! Yay!"
If You're a Fisherman, You Tell Tales: A fisherman exaggerates the day he caught a small fish.
If Your Boss Stops By, You Act Like You're Working: In medieval times, a group of armored knights led by an imposing leader enter a room lit only by torches. He's come to check on the progress of his men with their interrogation of a prisoner who is strapped to a large table. The two men sternly reply that the prisoner will tell them everything very shortly as they each hold a sharp, pointy weapon. As soon as the leader and his entourage take off, however, a bunch of other men emerge from their hiding spots and the group resumes their ping-pong match on the table. As it turns out, the prisoner is acting as their net and keeping score the entire time.
If You're the Guy from the Operation Game, You Get Operated On: A patient is rushed into an operating room; he's said to have several foreign objects in his body. The surgeon tries to remove one with tweezers, and a buzzer sounds. The patient turns out to be Cavity Sam.
If You're a Golf Commentator, You Whisper: Commentators are quietly describing the action during a golf tournament, when a kraken suddenly reaches out of the water hazard and grabs the golfer and some other people. The commentators continue to describe the scene, calmly and quietly.
If You're the Band Europe, You Love a Final Countdown: In a company break room, an employee cooks a burrito in a microwave oven; suddenly, the rock band Europe is in the room with him, singing "The Final Countdown" while the timer on the microwave counts down.
If You're Peter Pan, You Stay Young Forever: Peter flies in at a high school reunion that shows people who graduated in 1965 at their 50th class reunion.
If You're a Mom, You Call at the Worst Time – An action movie hero is saving the day when a call from his mother inconveniences him.
If You're a Couple, You Fight Over Directions – Tarzan and Jane are lost. Tarzan is confident about his way, but Jane asks Cheeta for directions.
If You Have Alligator Arms, You Avoid Picking up the Check – A group of people at a Chinese restaurant are given their bill, and a talking alligator suggests he take care of it, but he cannot reach it because of his tiny arms.
If You Sit on Your Phone, You Butt Dial People – A man is about to propose to his girlfriend, but her brother calls her. She answers, but it turns out to be a pocket dial from him at a sporting event.
If You're a Parrot, You Repeat Things – A parrot on a pirate's shoulder repeats everything the pirate said privately to everyone, causing the crew to mutiny against him. The parrot even repeats the voiceover's GEICO slogan "It's What You Do".
If You Want Someone to Leave You Alone, You Pretend Like You're Sleeping – Prince Charming attempts to awaken Sleeping Beauty from her slumber, but fails. After he leaves, Sleeping Beauty reveals she was faking just so she could catch up on her reality television.
If You Taste Something Bad, You Want Someone Else to Try It – Some talking raccoons are rummaging through the garbage, and one of them comes upon something foul and wants the others to taste it as well. This commercial appeared in the 2017 film The Dark Tower.
If You Walk the Walk, You Talk the Talk – A western sheriff confronts the villains and tells them to vamoose, and speaks his every move every time he walks.
If You're a Stuntman, You Cheat Death – A stunt man and the Grim Reaper compete in a 10K, but neither play fair.
If You're Boyz II Men, You'd Make Anything Sound Good – At a pharmacy, the Grammy-winning R&B group sing the possible side effects of a drug.
If You're a Ref, You Way Over-explain Things – A referee yells his order to a waiter at a restaurant.

text: "Unskippable" freeze frames[edit]

text: Debuted in 2015, these ads employ a satire of the technique of frame freezing, by showing live actors attempting to mimic a freeze-frame, often in awkward positions and sometimes assisted by intentionally visible stunt tools, such as suspension cords when paused in mid-air. The premise is that when viewing ads on sites like YouTube, usually a viewer cannot skip the ad until 5 seconds in then the commercial announcer saying "You can't skip this GEICO ad because it's already over" then the commercial announcer saying the GEICO slogan. If a user watches the entire video, events turn disastrous.

text:
Family: At the dinner table, a mother tells her family that they can "thank the savings". During the freeze-frame, the family dog starts eating from the father's plate.
High Five: Two friends celebrate saving money by performing a jumping high-five. During the freeze-frame, the stunt wires become visible and one of the actors' feet catches fire.
Cleaning Crew: A janitor mishears a businessman saying "savings". He loses control of the vacuum cleaner which runs over the cord and causes the electricity to short out.
Elevator: Two businessmen shake hands in an elevator. A woman enters the elevator asking to get off at the second floor, but the men are in a freeze-frame so she must press the button herself.

text:
Preceded by
The Epic Split feat. Jean-Claude Van Damme and Sorry, I Spent It on Myself
Cannes Lions Film Grand Prix Winner
2015
Succeeded by
Love freebies? Get them legally aka Shoplifters

text: Fast Forward[edit]

text: Debuted in 2016, these ads show the beginning portion of a 45–90-second ad before a blue screen disclaimer appears telling the viewers that the ad is being fast forward to the end portion so that they can get to their video faster. If an extended version of the ad or just the regular 15-second ad is shown on sites like YouTube, the viewer is usually welcome to skip the ad when 5 seconds have been used.

text:
Forest: In the lodge in the forest, two brothers were sawing a log when they were talking about savings from GEICO until a disclaimer appears skipping to one of the brothers hugging a bear thinking that "he's my brother".
Hike: Two hikers were walking a mountain telling that GEICO has been around for a very long time until a disclaimer appears skipping to the hikers being taken by an eagle while one of them holds a saxophone claiming that "not everyone likes smooth jazz!"
Lake: Two fishermen were talking in the canoe in the lake talking about 24/7 claims from GEICO until a disclaimer appears skipping to the fishermen being hung as plaques in a fish's house calling each other "gullible".
Going up: Almost similar to the "Unskippable" version of "Elevator", two women and a man discuss about their savings from GEICO until a disclaimer appears skipping two bald women coming out from the elevator leaving the man behind and declaring that they are "taking the stairs" next time.

text: Surprising[edit]

text: Debuted in 2016, these ads depict celebrities or historical figures in outlandish situations.

text: TV[edit]

text:
Playing Marco Polo with Marco Polo: Two kids play Marco Polo in their pool to the confusion of the historical Marco Polo, who eventually joins them in playing.
Ice-T at a Lemonade Stand: The famous American rapper runs a lemonade stand with two young boys but gets frustrated when customers repeatedly ask "Is that Ice T (iced tea) and yells that it's lemonade.
A Sumo Wrestler Figure skating: A Sumo Wrestler skates around and does some silly moves, including his signature "Flying Dutchman" only to get an applause from the crowd.
Tiki Barber Running a Barber Shop: Another barber says football plays before giving a buzzer to Tiki Barber, who sprints to each client and shaves a large part of their hair off. Once Tiki is done, he starts to celebrate and a person waiting leaves when he asks "Who's next?"
Ordering a Getaway Car with an App: A group of robbers escape with valuables but get upset when they find out their getaway car they ordered on a rideshare app is late. One remains optimistic and comments on how the driver's name, Randy, is trustworthy, but when the car comes, the police catch up to them.
Caesar on a Caesar Salad: A man portraying as Julius Caesar stands on top of a Caesar salad on the table in a restaurant.
Runway models on a runway: A group of notorious models delay a flight to hold a fashion show on an airport runway.
The Running of the Bulldogs: A runner trips in the Running of the Bulls race and faces imminent danger from...bulldogs.
A Triangle solo: An orchestra is performing Bach's Brandenburg Concerto No. 3 in G major, when the trianglist begins stealing the spotlight. (Side note: None of the Brandenburg Concertos call for a triangle.)
Casual Fridays at Buckingham Palace - A British royal guard slacker takes the place of a formal royal guard.
Randy Jackson Judging a Dog Show - The ex-American Idol judge gives his trademark critiques to a dog show.
Washington Crossing the Delaware Turnpike - The general holds up traffic by having his men drag his boat across the turnpike.
Manatees in Novelty Tees - A family at an aquarium visits the manatee exhibit, and sees that all the manatees are wearing T-shirts with slogans on them like "Come at Me, Bro" and "I'm with Stupid".

text: Radio[edit]

text: A Computer with a Virus: A computer suddenly comes down with a (literal) virus, admitting he ate

text: spoiled Oysters Rockefeller.

text:
A Really Charming Snake Charmer:
A Fortune Bank Teller: A man goes to the bank, but the teller is a gypsy woman who tells him his future.
Supermarket Beatboxing: A bored supermarket employee, told cleanup is needed in one of the aisles, begins beatboxing the announcement, and then continues the beatboxing with various other announcements (such as informing shoppers of a parked minivan with its headlights on). The spot won the Westwood One Sports Sounds Awards Media Choice Award for best commercial heard during the radio network's coverage of Super Bowl LII. [53]

text: Great Answer[edit]

text: These ads show a person seemingly in trouble, until they state that switching to GEICO could save you money on car insurance; at which point this unrelated answer is accepted as a great answer.

text:
Courtroom: A defendant in court is accused of robbing a safe. The prosecution has fingerprint evidence, photo evidence, and even a Twitter post using #JustRobbedTheSafe. The defendant's response is to tell everyone that switching to GEICO could save them money on car insurance, at which point he is dismissed.
Undercover: An undercover agent, wearing a disguise, is caught. When forced to explain himself, he says that you can save money on car insurance, at which point the people he was spying on let him go.
Meteor: After it is discovered that a meteor is heading toward earth, one of the people in the room tells everybody that switching to GEICO could save them money.
Adrift and Hungry: There are three men in a lifeboat, starving when one of them notices cheese on one of the men's beard. The man simply mentions that switching to GEICO could save them money. At the end, a fish jumps into their raft and they fight over it.
He-Man vs. Skeletor: He-Man and his posse are about to defeat Skeletor, until Skeletor tells them they should switch to GEICO and makes his escape.

text: Radio[edit]

text:
Painting: A man is showing a woman his new painting and asks for her opinion. Instead, she tells him that switching to GEICO could save money on car insurance.
Call-in Show: A woman is hosting a talk radio show, until the guy she once dated calls in asking why she never called back, so she says switching to GEICO could save hundreds on car insurance.
Trivia Contest: The question being asked is "What color is the White House?" When the contestant does not know the answer to this simple question, he says that switching to GEICO could save money on car insurance.
Love Advice:

text: Take a Closer Look[edit]

text: Since late 2016, a series of TV ads shows two people talking about GEICO, and one of them saying he/she should "take a closer look" at it; the camera then focuses on an inanimate object or animal in the background, which starts talking about the insurance company.

text: Plate: In this ad, painted figures on a decorative plate – a woman on a balcony and a man with a guitar in the garden below – talk about GEICO, and then the man plays music while the woman goes back inside.

text: Cuckoo clock: In this ad, moving figures on a cuckoo clock talk about GEICO and also about the futility of their repetitive actions.[54]

text: RV: Three bumper stickers on the back of a recreational vehicle talk about GEICO, and the one shaped like a moose is shocked to learn that he's not a real moose.

text:
Pigeon: A group of pigeons on a telephone wire talk about GEICO saying they have umbrella coverage, which gets one pigeon to say a person below them will wish he had an umbrella and to "fire at will." He later becomes frustrated at how none of the other pigeons understand that "fire at will" is a saying.
Fleas: Two fleas (actually two humans in badly-made flea suits) play badminton on a golden retriever until a disagreement results in the loss of a shuttlecock.

text: You Had One Job[edit]

text: Since 2017 on ESPN, the VO's tagline: "You had one job, brought to you by GEICO" and referee Shaun Irving blows his whistle to do jobs right.

text: Expect more[edit]

text: Since 2017, there have been ads in which one person is talking to another person about switching to GEICO and during each cut, the one who switched to GEICO gets more stuff.

text:
Bro - Two "bros" working out in the gym, who keep using "bro-" words ("broheem", "Teddy Brosevelt", etc.), the one who switched to GEICO keeps gaining more muscles.
Sandcastle - Two dads are building sandcastles. Every time it cuts back to the dad who switched to GEICO, his sandcastle gets bigger and more elaborate until it becomes an actual sand-mansion complete with a sand-fountain and sand-butler.
Christmas lights - Two guys putting up Christmas lights discuss switching to GEICO, the one who switched to GEICO's house becomes more and more elaborate, to the point where it is seen from space.
Still-life drawing - At a painting class, a man and a woman discuss switching to GEICO, while the woman's drawing becomes more detailed, and at the end, even comes to life.

text: We Interrupt Your Life[edit]

text: Since 2018, the announcer proclaims interrupting your life for multiple GEICO ads at the end of each ad and proclaims "We interrupt this message to bring you our logo."

text: Count on GEICO[edit]

text: Since 2017, there has been a new campaign in which humorous situations are presented as spokesman Steve Tom says, "As long as [such and such], you can count on GEICO saving folk money."

text:
As Long As Sloths are Slow...: A three-toed sloth is playing Pictionary with a group of humans. Of course, he only draws a single line, due to his speed, leaving the contestants to guess random things.
As Long As People Misplace Their Keys...: A space captain is about to fight a huge battle, but he ends up not being able to find his keys.
As Long AS GPS Can Still Get You Lost...: Two Emperor penguins separate from the Great Penguin Migration and use an unreliable mapping app on their phone.
As Long As Hecklers Love to Heckle...: At a jousting tournament, an audience member makes fun of one of the competitors, much to the delight of everyone else in the audience.
As Long as People Talk Baby Talk to Dogs...: McGruff the Crime Dog wants to be taken seriously in a police precinct, but the others act very condescending towards him.

text: A GEICO Commercial?[edit]

text: Since 2018, there has been a new campaign that breaks the fourth wall revealing the actors are actually in an advertisement for GEICO, as revealed by spokesman David Ebert.

text:
Weekend Gardening
Shopping Trip
Tea Time
Couple in the Park
Family Dinner
Vending Machine


document_title: Kumar Sangakkara

question_text: who became the first wicket keeper with hundred odi stumpings

question_tokens: who became the first wicket keeper with hundred odi stumpings

root

text: Kumar Sangakkara

text: Early life[edit]

text: Sangakkara was born to Kumari Surangana and Swarnakumara Sangakkara, an attorney-at-law at Matale, Sri Lanka in 1977.[20] His parents settled in Kandy, where he spent his childhood. Sangakkara received his primary and secondary education at Trinity College, Kandy, an independent elite private boys' school situated in the central highlands of Sri Lanka. He has two sisters: Thushari and Saranga, and an elder brother: Vemindra, all who have made national-level achievements during their schooling. Sangakkara also began to play a number of sports: badminton, tennis, swimming, table tennis and cricket at the junior school. He was able to win national colours for badminton and tennis at a young age. The then principal of the Trinity College, Leonard de Alwis, advised his mother to encourage Sangakkara to concentrate on cricket.[21]

tag: p

text: His parents hid Tamil families during the Black July riots in 1983.[22]

text: He represented his school's under-13 cricket XI under coach Upananda Jayasundera.[20] Berty Wijesinghe coached Sangakkara for under-15, under-17, under-19 and first XI squads.[23] He was awarded The Trinity Lion, the most prestigious prize awarded to a Trinity sportsman, for his exceptional batting and wicket-keeping skills in the 1996 season, at the age of 19.[24] Sangakkara was selected to represent Sri Lankan A cricket team's tour to South Africa in 1998–99. His knock of an unbeaten 156 against Zimbabwe A team during a one-day match,[25] helped him secure a place in the Sri Lankan national cricket team later that year.

text: Sanga was the Senior Prefect (Head Boy) of school, he did his Advanced Level examination in the Arts stream in 1996. He was also awarded the highest honor of Trinity College, the Ryde Gold Medal, for the best all-round student in his year. Following his father, who is a lawyer in Kandy, he entered the Law Faculty of the University of Colombo, but was unable to finish his degree due to his cricketing commitments.[26] Sangakkara was a chorister and played the violin during his school days.[27] He was cited as an inspiration to continue his higher education by Bangladeshi captain Mushfiqur Rahim, upon receiving his master's degree:

text: It is appreciated that someone like Sangakkara's sports personality is shaped by his education. He is not only a wonderful cricketer but he is also ever humble and gentle human-being. He is obviously an inspiration.[28]

text: International career[edit]

text: Early career[edit]

text: At the age of 22 Sangakkara made his Test debut on 20 July 2000, keeping wicket in the first fixture of a three-match series against South Africa. Sri Lanka won the match and in his side's only innings Sangakarra batted at the fall of the third wicket and scored 23 runs before he was dismissed leg before wicket by spin bowler Nicky Boje.[29] He made 35 runs in his One-day cricket debut[30][31] against Pakistan and he received his first man of the match award in the 2nd match of the Singer Triangular Series, 2000, scoring 85 runs against South Africa.[32] He ended the series with 199 runs, at an average of 66.33, securing his place for the upcoming Test series against South Africa. Before reaching his first Test century, he was twice dismissed in the 90s, once against each of South Africa and England. In August 2001, India toured Sri Lanka for three Tests and in the opening match Sangakkara scored his first century.[33] His innings of 105 not out at number three helped set up a ten-wicket victory for Sri Lanka.[34] Later that year Sangakkara scored his second Test century, this time in the first of three matches against the touring West Indians.[35]

text: He scored his first double-century against Pakistan in 2002, at the 2nd Asian Test Championship final.[36] His performance helped Sri Lanka secure the Test championship. In April 2003, Sangakkara made his first ODI century against Pakistan, in a losing effort.[37] Together with Marvan Atapattu, he made a partnership of 438 for the 2nd wicket—4th highest in the world—against Zimbabwe in 2004.[38] In that game, he scored 270, his first 250+ score.[39] In July 2005, he was selected to the ICC World XI ODI team but missed out from its Test counterpart.

text: As vice-captain[edit]

text: When Sri Lanka toured Bangladesh in February 2006 regular captain Marvan Atapattu was injured and Mahela Jayawardene became captain while Sangakkara was made vice-captain.[40] 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.[41] 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.[42] In July 2006, Sangakkara made his second-highest Test score to-date (287) against South Africa. In a record-breaking partnership with Mahela Jayawardene, he set up the world record for the highset partnership in Test cricket—624 runs—in this match.[43]

text: On 6 December 2007 he made it to the top spot of ICC Test player rankings with a rating of 938, the highest rating ever achieved by a Sri Lankan player, and became the first batsman ever to score in excess of 150 in four consecutive tests.[20] 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. Despite the World XI losing all of the one-day games by considerable margins, Sangakkara left the series with some credit, averaging 46. He was one of the winners of the 2008 inaugural Cricinfo awards for outstanding batting in Test cricket.[44]

text: Sangakkara holds the record for being the fastest man to 8,000, 9,000, 10,000 (jointly held), 11,000 and 12,000 runs in Test cricket. During Sri Lanka's tour to England in May 2006, he was named the vice-captain of the side. On 3 March 2009, a terrorist attack on the Sri Lankan team convoy in Pakistan injured 6 Sri Lankan players including Sangakkara. Sangakkara suffered shrapnel wounds in his shoulder.[45] In November 2006, Sangakkara was included in the ICC World XI Test team. Next year, he signed an agreement to join Warwickshire County Cricket Club.[46] That year, he scored back-to-back double centuries in Tests and became only the fifth cricketer in the history to do so.[47]

text: Captaincy[edit]

text:
Sangakkara's record as captain

Matches
Won
Lost
Drawn
No result

Test[48]
15
5
3
7
–

ODI[49]
45
27
14
–
4

T20I[50]
21
12
9
–
–

tag: table

text: In February 2009, the then captain of the Sri Lankan side, Mahela Jayawardene announced that he would step down from captaincy "in the best interests of the Sri Lankan team". He said he believed that it would give his successor around two years to build up to the 2011 Cricket World Cup.[51] Therefore, at the age of 31 and with the experience of 80 Tests and 246 ODIs, Sangakkara succeeded Jayawardene as Sri Lanka's captain in all formats of the game. His first engagement in the role was the 2009 ICC World Twenty20 hosted by England in June.[52] Sri Lanka became runners-up in the series after winning all the game in group and knock-out stages and being defeated by Pakistan in the final. Sangakkara made 64 not-out in the final, but was unable to take Sri Lanka for the championship.[53] Sri Lanka failed to reach to the knock-out stage of the ICC Champions Trophy in September 2009. The next Indian tour proved to be disastrous for the team, with Sri Lanka being beaten by India in Test series 2–0 and ODI series 3–1.

text: Sri Lankan team under the captaincy of Sangakkara gained momentum and won the next Tri-series in Bangladesh, Zimbabwe and Sri Lanka, beating India as well. The Sri Lankans' tour of Australia proved to be very successful, in winning both the T20 and ODI series. This was Sri Lanka's first ever series victory in Australia.[54]

text: A month in advance of the 2011 World Cup in March, Sangakkara decided that he would resign the captaincy after the tournament.[55] Sri Lanka reached the final of the tournament.[56] 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 team-mate Tillakaratne Dilshan and India's Sachin Tendulkar. 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. He offered to continue as Test captain if deemed necessary for transition to new skipper,[57] but Dilshan was appointed captain across all formats.[58] Reflecting on the decision afterwards, he said that "captaining Sri Lanka is a job that ages you very quickly ... It's rarely a job you will last long in ... 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."[55]

text: The same year, he was named the ODI Cricketer of the Year at the ICC awards ceremony.[59] In 2012, he was honored as one of the Wisden Cricketers of the Year.[60]

text: Post-captaincy[edit]

text: Sri Lanka's first fixture after the World Cup was a Sri Lanka tour of England in 2011 beginning in May. During the second match of a three Test series Tillakaratne Dilshan, Sangakkara's successor as captain, suffered a broken thumb. Sangakkara filled in while Dilshan was off the pitch and formally assumed the captaincy for the final Test.[61][62] The match ended in a draw and the series ended in a 1–0 victory for England; Sangakarra scored a century in the match, his first against England in nine Tests.[63]

text:
Sangakkara's results in international matches[64]

Matches
Won
Lost
Drawn
Tied
No result

Test[65]
134*
54
42
37
0
–

ODI[66]
404
217
167
–
2
17

T20I[67]
56
34
20
–
1
1

text: Sangakkara was named the man of the series in Test series with Pakistan in 2011/12—his first man of the series award in Test cricket. He made 516 runs in the 3 match series which was won by Pakistan 1–0.[68] On August in 2013, he was named the ODI Cricketer of the Year, wicket keeper-captain of the ICC World XI Test team, and won the ICC People's Choice Award in 2011 ICC Awards.[59] In 2012, he was named one of the Wisden's five Cricketer's of the Year.[60]

text: Sangakkara struggled with his form when England toured Sri Lanka in 2012. He failed to score a half century during The Two Test match series. But he regained his form in the ODI series against Pakistan where his batting score reached the 90s. In the Test series that followed, Sangakkara continued his form with a 199, the scoreboard originally said he had scored the double century but it turned out to be a mistake. Sri Lanka later won the Test match. He followed this up with 192 in the same game, again missing out on the double century. The next two matches were drawn, which meant Sri Lanka won the series 1–0. This was their first time winning a Test series since the retirement of Muttiah Muralitharan.

text: On the Sri Lankan tour of Bangladesh in 2014, Sangakkara hit his highest test score to date with 319 in the first innings of the second test.[69] Making him only the third Sri Lankan player to hit a triple century after Sanath Jayasuria and Mahela Jayawardena. He followed his triple century with a knock of 105 in the 2nd innings and the game finished as a draw. He continued his good batting run with another century in the 2nd ODI.

text: Along with teammate Mahela Jayawardene, he recorded the most partnership runs for the 3rd wicket in Test history, scoring 5890 runs surpassing the 5826 runs of Rahul Dravid and Sachin Tendulkar, during the first Test match against Pakistan at Galle International Stadium. The two also hold the record for the highest partnership for any wicket in Test matches, scoring 624 runs for the 3rd wicket against South Africa in July 2006.[70] This still stands as the largest partnership for any wicket in first-class cricket, anywhere.[71]

text: His impressive form with the bat continued at the 2014 Asia Cup where he amassed a total of 245 runs in five innings. He started the tournament with a 63 against Pakistan before hitting a match winning 103 against India. He then added scores of 77 and 2 against Afghanistan and Bangladesh before being dismissed for a golden duck in the final against Pakistan. Sri Lanka went on to win the game and the tournament.[72]

text: Sangakkara decided to retire from T20 internationals after playing the 2014 ICC World Twenty20. Afterwards, Jayawardene also followed him into retirement. Sangakkara under-performed in the World T20, but in the final match against India, he scored 51 not out off just 33 balls making his team win their second ICC trophy since 1996.

text: Sri Lanka played their first 7-match ODI series at home, against England from 26 November to 16 December 2014. On 3 December 2014 Sangakkara reached 13,000 runs in One-day internationals in the third match of the series at the Mahinda Rajapaksa International Stadium, Hambantota, and became the fourth player in One-day history to achieve the feat after Sachin Tendulkar, Ricky Ponting, and Sanath Jayasuriya. He also became the second most prolific half-century maker in One-day internationals during this match. He scored 4 consecutive half-centuries followed by a century. On 13 December 2014, he scored his 20th ODI century, becoming the second Sri Lankan to score 20 ODI centuries, after 28 by Sanath Jayasuriya, and 9th overall to do so. He also took 4 catches as a wicket-keeper in this match taking the player of the match award.[73] This match was his last match in his home town, due to his retirement from ODI arena after 2015 Cricket World Cup.

text: His last One-day innings in Sri Lanka was played on 13 December 2014 in the last match of the England ODI series. He was caught while on 33 in his last innings on home soil.[74]

text: On 4 January 2015, Sangakkara scored his 38th test century by making 203 against New Zealand during the second match of the 2 Test match series.[75] With this feat, he is only one short to become the highest double-century maker in test history. He has 11 test double centuries, only one short of 12 double centuries by Don Bradman.[76] He also surpassed 12,000 runs in Test cricket, becoming the first Sri Lankan and 5th overall cricketer to achieve that mark.[77]

text: On 14 February 2015, Sangakkara became the second highest run scorer in One-Day International history, by surpassing Australian Ricky Ponting. He achieved this milestone during the first match of 2015 ICC Cricket World Cup against New Zealand, but Sri Lanka lost the match.[78]

text: On 26 February 2015 in 2015 ICC Cricket World Cup against Bangladesh, Sangakkara scored his 22nd ODI century in his 400th appearance in One-Day Internationals. The 210* second wicket partnership between Sangakkara and Tillakaratne Dilshan on that day was broken again on 1 March 2015, in the next group match in World Cup against England, where Sangakkara joined Lahiru Thirimanne with 212* for the second wicket. Sangakkara scored his 23rd century in this match and this 70-ball century was his fastest century overall and the fastest century by a Sri Lankan in World Cup history.[79][80]

text: During the same world cup, against Australia, when chasing massive 377 scores, Sangakkara passed 14,000 ODI runs, becoming the first Sri Lankan and second overall cricketer to pass it.[81] He scored 124 runs in the next match against Scotland, becoming first batsman in World Cup history to score 4 consecutive hundreds.[82]

text: 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. He only scored 45 runs, it was Sri Lanka's first World Cup defeat in a quarter final after 1999. His teammate Mahela also retired from ODI career with this match.[83]

text: Retirement[edit]

text: During the 2014 ICC World Twenty20 championship, Sangakkara announced his retirement from the Twenty20 International arena after the championship with his teammate Mahela. Then in December 2014, he announced that he would also retire from ODI cricket after the 2015 Cricket World Cup, again with Mahela. As he said, he retired from T20I cricket on April 2014 and from ODI cricket on 18 March 2015.[84]

text: On 1 April 2015, Sri Lanka's Sports Minister Navin Dissanayake stated that Sangakkara should reconsider his intention to retire in August 2015. He said that Sangakarra was disillusioned by some of the actions of the Sri Lanka Cricket Board in the past, and now that attempts have been made to change personnel and practices, Sangakkara should reconsider his decision. Sangakkara did not give an answer to the statement.[85]

text: On 27 June 2015, Sangakkara officially announced his retirement from Test cricket as well. He retired from Test cricket after the second Test match against India.[86][87] He scored 32 runs in the first innings and 18 in the second of his last test match and got out to Ravichandran Ashwin for the fourth consecutive time in the series. The P Sara Oval ground was decorated with numerous banners and posters of Sangakkara with messages such as "Thank You Sanga" and "Class Never Retires".[88] His teammates including Mahela, Thilan Thushara, and Sanath Jayasuriya, Murali came to the ground to bid farewell to Sangakkara. Sri Lanka Rupavahini Corporation recognized Sangakkara as the "Player of the Century" citing many of Sangakkara's past memories and achievements.

text: After the conclusion of the second test, a special farewell presentation was held for Sangakkara with the presence of President Maithreepala Sirisena, Prime Minister Ranil Wickramasinghe, former Sri Lankan Test captain Arjuna Ranatunga, former Indian Test captain Sunil Gavaskar, and several cricket celebrities. Several momentous were given for the behalf of his cricket career and Gavaskar invited him to the former cricketer's club.[89][90] Indian captain Virat Kohli described Sangakkara as "a lovely person".[91] President Sirisena offered him to work as the Commissioner for the United Kingdom in Sri Lanka stating "He has been a great face for our country and it gives me immense pleasure in offering him the post of High Commissioner to the UK".[92]

text: Cowdrey Lecture[edit]

text: Sangakkara delivered the 2011 MCC Spirit of Cricket Cowdrey Lecture at Lords.[93] He became the youngest person and the first current international player to deliver that lecture, which was widely praised by the cricketing community.[14][15][94] The one-hour-long speech was based on the history and the corruption in the cricket administration in Sri Lanka. In his speech, he said: "accountability and transparency in administration and credibility of conduct were lost in a mad power struggle that would leave Sri Lankan cricket with no clear, consistent administration", and observed that these problems in administration had risen only after Sri Lanka's 1996 Cricket World Cup victory.[95] He also blamed "a handful of well-meaning individuals" who control the game, wasting the cricket board's finances and resources. Immediately after the lecture, the Sri Lankan sports minister Mahindananda Aluthgamage ordered an investigation into the speech.[96] Despite the critical comments by the Sri Lankan government officials, it has been described as "the most important speech in cricket history".[97]

text: Beyond cricket[edit]

text: After his retirement from ODI cricket in 2015, Sangakkara became the Leading Wisden Cricketer of the year 2014 for his impressive cricket career. With this award, he was second only to Indian Virender Sehwag, to win the Wisden Leading cricketer award twice, both in 2011 and 2015. He also won the award for Outstanding Contribution to Sport at the 5th Asian Awards, which were held in London on 17 April 2015.[98]

text: On 19 August 2015, just after the end of Sri Lankan Parliamentary election of 2015, president Maithripala Sirisena appointed Sangakkara as the Ambassador Of Anti-narcotics program In Sri Lanka.[99] The letter of appointment was handed over to Sangakkara by the president at President’s official residence.[100][101][102]

text: Domestic cricket[edit]

text: Sangakkara currently plays domestic cricket for Nondescripts in Sri Lanka, as well as Surrey in England and also various T20 tournaments around the world.

text: County cricket[edit]

text: Sangakkara has played English county cricket with Warwickshire in the 2007 County Championship. In 2010 Sangakkara was contracted to represent Lancashire in the 2010 County Championship,[103] but never represented the club because of international commitments.[104] For the 2015 and 2016 seasons Sangakkara has been contracted to play for Surrey.[105] After his international retirement, Sangakkara has continued to play for Surrey and in 2017 scored his 100th century in all formats of the game combined on 13 June 2017.[106]

text: Indian Premier League[edit]

text: Sangakkara has played in five seasons of the Indian Premier League. Winning bids for him in 2008 and 2011 were US$700,000 by Kings XI Punjab and US$300,000 by Deccan Chargers respectively. He was the captain of the Sunrisers Hyderabad team. Sangakkara has scored 1567 runs with 10 half-centuries in 62 matches in IPL.[107]

text: Sri Lanka Premier League[edit]

text: 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. However, he appeared as a television commentator during some matches.

text: Caribbean Premier League[edit]

text: On 18 August 2013, Sangakkarra joined the Jamaica Tallawahs of the Caribbean Premier League.[108]

text: Pakistan Super League[edit]

text: In 2015, Sangakkarra joined the Quetta Gladiators of the Pakistan Super League. He was later released by the franchise and was picked by Karachi Kings as captain for the 2017 edition.Under his captaincy team reached play-offs.[109]

text: Return to county cricket[edit]

text: Before Sri Lanka's Test series against England in 2014, Sangakkara returned to county cricket, playing two matches for Durham,[110] which included 159 against Sussex in his final innings. On 16 January 2015, it was announced that he would be joining Surrey on a two-year contract.[111] Sangakkara scored a brilliant century against Glamorgan, where he scored 149 runs, which was his maiden century for Surrey in this county season. After the match, he said that he is willing to see the comeback of English batsman Kevin Pietersen to the international cricket.[112][113]

text: Sangakkara represented Surrey from 2015 till 2017, helping them win Division Two of LV= 2015 County Championship and gaining promotion to Division One for the Specsavers 2016 County Championship season. Surrey also reached the finals of 2015 Royal London One-Day Cup before losing by six runs to Gloucestershire.

text: On 22 May 2017, Sangakkara announced that the following season would be his last in first-class cricket and that he would retire at the end of County Championship.[114] He made the announcement after scoring four consecutive centuries becoming the fourth Surrey batsman to achieve this feat (Ian Ward was the last to do it in 2002), pass 20,000 first-class and having scored 592 runs in the said four games. He scored the fifth consecutive century on 26 May against Essex at the County Cricket Ground, Chelmsford.[115] becoming only the eighth player to achieve this feat.[116] In the quarter-final of the Royal London One-Day Cup against Yorkshire, he scored 121 from as many balls, which became his 100th century in all formats of the game combined, that now included 61 in first-class and 39 in List A games.[117] Sangakkara became the first batsman to reach 1,000 runs for the season when he brought up his sixth century for the season against Yorkshire.[118]

text: Cricket All-Stars Series[edit]

text: Sangakkara though retired from international cricket, showed his talent, strength, and ability when he participated in the 2015 Cricket All-Stars Series under Shane Warne's captaincy Warne's Warriors. In the three T20 matches, he scored 153 runs, which was more than any other cricketer in the series, and included one fifty.[119] His average in the series was 51.00. He also hit the most number of fours and sixes, 12 a piece. For his overall performance, Sangakkara was judged player of the series as well.[120][121][122]

text: Masters Champion League[edit]

text: Sangakkara also played for Gemini Arabians in the first edition of Masters Champions League T20 tournament which took place in the UAE. In the first match against Gemini and Libra Legends, Sangakkara scored 86 runs from just 43 balls and helped the team post a huge total of 234 runs in their allotted 20 overs. Libra Legends only scored 156 in their 20 overs and thus Gemini Arabians won the match courtesy of Sangakkara's knock. Sangakkara was also awarded man of the match.[123][124][125] Sangakkara scored four consecutive fifties (65, 51, 51, 62) in the other matches played during the series, this secured a place in the final for the Arabians. In the final against Leo Lions, he scored 30 runs to become top run scorer of the series. His team won the series and remained undefeated throughout the tournament. Sangakkara won player of the series for his 386 runs with 5 fifties.[126]

text: Fan poll[edit]

text: Sangakkara won a fan poll to find the One-Day International Greatest of All Time (GOAT) after an online polling process conducted by cricket.com.au in 2016. Sangakkara received more votes than India's Sachin Tendulkar in the final. The vote started with 64 one-day players and after 40 days and millions of votes, Sangakkara won the contest as the greatest ODI player of all time.[127][128][129]

text: Selection committee[edit]

text: On 7 March 2016, Sangakkara was appointed as a member of Sri Lanka's selection committee by sports minister Dayasiri Jayasekara. The committee was tasked to select the Sri Lankan squad for 2016 ICC World Twenty20 tournament, as Sri Lanka suffered heavy defeats in recent times with the previous squad. The chairman of the selection committee is Aravinda de Silva. The other members are Romesh Kaluwitharana, Ranjith Madurasinghe, and Lalith Kaluperuma.[130]

text: Personal life[edit]

text: Sangakkara is married to his longtime partner, Yehali.[131] They have twins, a girl and a boy: Swyree and Kavith.[132]

text: He is involved in a lot of charity work in Sri Lanka. He is a member of the Think Wise Initiative, launched by International Cricket Council, Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS and UNICEF, this initiative is aimed at raising awareness of HIV prevention and eliminating discrimination against people living with HIV and AIDS.[133] He is also a partner of the Foundation of Goodness, a charity launched by Muttiah Muralitharan.[26]

text: Playing style[edit]

text: Sangakkara is a left-handed top order batsman who likes to hit the ball square of the wicket on the off-side. While the cut and the pull are natural strokes for him, he tends to play off the front foot. The cover drive is one of his regular scoring shots. Sangakkara averaged 57.40 in Test cricket. In ODI cricket, he retired with an average of 42.[134] Sangakkara handed his wicket-keeping duties in Test cricket to Prasanna Jayawardene in 2006. He played as a specialist batsman in Tests, and retired as a wicket keeper-batsman in other formats of the game. He is the first on the list of wicket keepers who contributed to the most number of dismissals in ODI cricket, With 499. He is also the wicket keeper with the second highest number of stumpings—99—in ODI cricket after Mahendra Singh Dhoni surpassed him.[135]

text: He has won a certain degree of admiration for his clever use of sledging and is one of few cricketers who are willing to talk about it openly.[136] In an interview in 2004 he explained his approach to sledging:

text: The public perception of sledging is to go out there and abuse someone in obscene language, questioning their parentage or sexual preferences. That kind of abuse does not belong on the field of play. Sledging, as coined and pioneered by the Australians, is a measured comment designed to get a reaction out of a player. 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.

text: Commentary debut[edit]

text: Kumar Sangakkara made his ICC TV commentary debut during the 2017 ICC Champions Trophy along with newcomers Brendon McCullum, Graeme Smith and Ricky Ponting.[138]

text: International records[edit]

text: World records are bold

text: Tests[edit]

text:
Fifth highest aggregate of runs (12,400) in 134 matches at an Average of 57.40
Most double centuries in a career – Sangakkara has 11 double centuries in Tests, second only to 12 by Don Bradman.
Fourth highest number of centuries – Sangakkara has 38 centuries in 134 matches.
Highest average (qualification 5000 runs.) by a Sri Lankan – Sangakkara (57.40)- fifth highest overall after Donald Bradman, Ken Barrington, Wally Hammond and Garfield Sobers.[139]
Half centuries – Sangakkara has 52 half-centuries in 134 matches. He is ninth in the list.
First player to score 150+ scores in four consecutive Test matches.[140]
Fastest 8,000 runs – Sangakkara (152 innings)[141]
Fastest 9,000 runs – Sangakkara (172 innings)[142]
Joint fastest to score 10,000 runs – Sangakkara along with Brian Lara and Sachin Tendulkar[143]
Fastest 11,000 runs – Sangakkara (208 innings)[144]
Fastest 12,000 runs – Sangakkara (224 innings)[145]
Highest partnership for any wicket – 624 for the third wicket by Kumara Sangakkara (287) & Mahela Jayawardene (374) against South Africa in 2006.In fact, this pair is the only pair to put on a 600+ runstand for any wicket in test history[146]
Most partnership runs – Kumara Sangakkara and Mahela Jayawardene scored 6554 runs together, which is the second highest by any partnership.[147]
Most runs in Year 2014 – 1493 runs in 12 matches with 4 hundreds and 9 fifties with average 71.09[148]
Most test centuries when batting at number 3 position(37)[149]
Most career runs when batting at number 3 position in test history(11679)[150]

tag: ul

text: One-Day Internationals[edit]

text:
Aggregate runs (14,234 in 404 matches at an Average of 41.98) – Sangakkara is second on the list.
First Sri Lankan to pass 14,000 runs.
Most number of half centuries – Sangakkara has 93 half-centuries in 404 matches. He is second in the list.
Most number of dismissals (includes wicket-keeping) – Sangakkara has taken (482 dismissals = 383 ct. + 99 st.) in 404 matches.[151]
Second most stumpings in a career as a wicketkeeper in ODIs – 99 by Sangakkara.[152]
Most runs in Year 2014 – 1256 runs in 28 matches with 4 hundreds and 8 fifties with the average 46.51[153]
First and only batsman to score four consecutive hundreds – centuries against Bangladesh (105*), England (117*), Australia (104) and Scotland (124) in the 2015 ICC World Cup.[154]
Sangakkara was the first Sri Lankan and 4th overall batsman to reach hundred in his 100th ODI appearance.[155]
Most runs as wicketkeeper batsman in ODI history (13,262 runs) and the only wicketkeeper batsman to score over 10000 runs in One Day Internationals.[156]

text: T20I records[edit]

text:
He along with Mahela Jayawardene holds the record for the highest ever partnership for any wicket in ICC World T20 history(166 for the 2nd wicket)[157]
He was the first batsman to score half centuries in 2 different ICC T20 World Cup finals(in 2009 and 2014)[158]

text: Aggregate records[edit]

text:
Most runs in cricket in all formats of the game in a calendar year – Sangakkara scored 2868 runs in the year 2014. (1493 Tests + 1256 ODIs + 119 T20Is)[159]
Total runs scored in all forms of the game – Sangakkara is second only to Indian Sachin Tendulkar, scoring 28,016 international runs.[160]
Fourth in the list of most number of dismissals as wicketkeeper across all formats (678).[161]

text: World Cups[edit]

text:
Most number of dismissals as wicketkeeper – Kumara Sangakkara (54) in 37 matches.He was also the second wicketkeeper after Adam Gilchrist to effect in 50+ dismissals in World Cups[162]
Fastest century by a Sri Lankan – Sangakkara scored his 23rd ODI century by 70 balls against England on 1 March 2015.
Most consecutive centuries in a single World Cup (4). He is also the only player to have scored 4 centuries in a single World Cup[163]

text: Player statistics[edit]

text: Test performance against each opponent[edit]

text: As of 23 August 2015 until his retirement:[164]

text:
Opponent
Matches
Innings
Not out
Runs
High Score
100
50
Average

 Australia
11
21
1
878
192
1
7
43.90

 Bangladesh
15
21
2
1,816
319
7
7
95.57

 England
22
39
1
1,568
152
3
7
40.20

 India
17
28
2
1,362
219
5
2
54.25

 New Zealand
12
20
3
887
203
4
2
51.88

 Pakistan
22
43
6
2,877
230
10
12
77.76

 South Africa
17
28
0
1,434
287
3
6
48.64

 West Indies
12
19
2
918
157*
3
5
54.00

 Zimbabwe
5
6
0
536
270
2
1
89.33

TOTAL
134
233
17
12,400
319
38
52
57.40

text: ODI performance against each opponent[edit]

text: As of 18 March 2015, until his retirement:[165]

text:
Opponent
Matches
Innings
Not out
Runs
High Score
100
50
Average

 Australia
46
46
4
1813
104
2
12
43.17

 Bangladesh
31
28
3
1206
128
5
6
48.24

 England
44
41
7
1625
134*
4
11
47.79

 India
76
72
4
2706
138*
6
18
39.79

 New Zealand
47
45
6
1568
113*
2
12
40.21

 Pakistan
56
53
4
1720
112
2
10
35.10

 South Africa
44
43
4
1789
169
2
13
45.89

 West Indies
20
17
1
480
90*
0
3
30.00

 Zimbabwe
21
17
5
556
80
0
4
46.33

 Afghanistan
2
2
0
83
76
0
1
76.00

 Bermuda
1
1
0
76
76
0
1
76.00

 Canada
2
2
1
96
92
0
1
96.00

 Ireland
1
1
0
10
10
0
0
10.00

 Kenya
3
3
2
135
103*
1
0
135.00

 Netherlands
3
3
0
115
46
0
0
38.33

 Scotland
1
1
0
124
124
1
0
124.00

 United Arab Emirates
2
2
0
17
17
0
0
8.50

ACA Africa XI
3
3
1
97
61
0
1
48.50

ICC World XI
1
1
0
24
24
0
0
24.00

TOTAL
404
380
42
14234
169
25
93
41.98

text: Centuries[edit]

text: Sangakkara has scored 38 centuries in Test cricket, more than any other Sri Lankan. Additionally, Sangakkara has scored 25 centuries in ODIs.[166]

text: Awards and honors[edit]

text:
Wisden Leading Cricketer in the World, 2011.
Wisden Leading Cricketer in the World, 2014.
LG People's Choice Award 2011, 2012.
ICC ODI Player of the Year 2011.
ICC Test Cricketer of the Year 2012.
ICC Cricketer of the Year 2012.
ICC ODI Cricketer of the Year 2013.
ICC Test Team of the Year – 2006, 2007, 2008, 2010, 2011, 2012.
ICC ODI Team of the Year – 2011, 2012, 2013, 2015.
Outstanding Achievement in Sport 2015, The Asian Awards.[167]
CEAT International Cricketer of the Year 2015.[168]
Ada Derana Sri Lankan of the Year 2016 – Icon of the Year Award[169]
Dialog SLC ODI Batsman of the Year 2015[170]

text: Man of the match awards[edit]

text: Test Cricket – Man of the Series awards[edit]

text: In this table Ct., refers to the Catches and St. refers to the Stumping

text:
#
Series
Season
Match Performance
Result

1
Pakistan Vs. Sri Lanka Test Series
2011–12
516 (3 Matches); 1 Ct.
 Pakistan Won the series 1–0[68]

2
Pakistan Vs. Sri Lanka Test Series
2012
490 (3 matches);1Ct.
 Sri Lanka Won the series 1–0[68]

3
Bangladesh in Sri Lanka Test Series
2013
441 (2 matches)
 Sri Lanka Won the series 1–0[68]

4
Sri Lanka in Bangladesh Test Series
2014
499 (2 matches)
 Sri Lanka Won the series 1–0[171]

text: Test Cricket – Man of the match awards[edit]

text:
#
Series
Season
Match Performance
Result

1
1st Test – Zimbabwe in Sri Lanka Test Series
2001–02
1st Innings – 128 ; 3 Ct.
 Sri Lanka Won by an innings and 166 runs[172]

2
2001–02 Asian Test Championship Final
2001–02
1st Innings – 230 ; 2nd Innings 14* ; 5 Ct., 1 St.
 Sri Lanka Won by 8 wickets[173]

3
2nd Test – Sri Lanka in Zimbabwe Test Series
2004
1st Innings – 270 ; 1 Ct.
 Sri Lanka Won by an innings and 254 runs[174]

4
2nd Test – South Africa in Sri Lanka Test Series
2004
1st Innings – 232 ; 2nd Innings – 64 ; 1 Ct.
 Sri Lanka Won by 313 runs[175]

5
2nd Test – West Indies in Sri Lanka Test Series
2005
1st Innings – 6 ; 2nd Innings – 157 ; 1 Ct.
 Sri Lanka Won by 240 runs[176]

6
1st Test – Pakistan in Sri Lanka Test Series
2005–06
1st Innings – 8 ; 2nd Innings – 185 ; 2 Ct.
Match drawn[177]

7
2nd Test – Bangladesh in Sri Lanka Test Series
2007
1st Innings – 200*
 Sri Lanka Won by an innings and 90 runs[178]

8
1st Test – England in Sri Lanka Test Series
2007–08
1st Innings – 92 ; 2nd Innings – 152 ; 1 Ct.
 Sri Lanka Won by 88 runs[179]

9
3rd Test – India in Sri Lanka Test Series
2008
1st Innings – 144 ; 2nd Innings – 4
 Sri Lanka Won by 8 wickets[180]

10
3rd Test – Pakistan in Sri Lanka Test Series
2009
1st Innings – 45 ; 2nd Innings – 130* ; 2 Ct.
Match drawn[181]

11
2nd Test – India in Sri Lanka Test Series
2009–10
1st Innings – 219 ; 2nd Innings – 42* ; 3 Ct.
Match drawn[182]

12
2nd Test – West Indies in Sri Lanka Test Series
2010–11
1st Innings – 150 ; 2nd Innings – 1*
Match drawn[183]

13
1st Test – Pakistan vs. Sri Lanka Test Series
2011–12
1st Innings – 2 ; 2nd Innings – 211 ; 1 Ct.
Match drawn[184]

14
3rd Test – Pakistan vs. Sri Lanka Test Series
2011–12
1st Innings – 144 ; 2nd Innings – 51 ; 1 Ct.
Match drawn[185]

15
1st Test – Pakistan in Sri Lanka Test Series
2012
1st Inning – 199* ; Second Inning – 1 ; 1 Ct.
 Sri Lanka won by 209 runs[186]

16
2nd Test – Sri Lanka in Bangladesh Test Series
2014
1st Inning – 319 ; Second Inning – 105 ;
Match Drawn[187]

text: One-Day International Cricket – Man of the series awards[edit]

text:
#
Series
Season
Match Performance
Result

1
Cherry Blossom Sharjah Cup
2003
228 (3 Matches)
 Pakistan Won the series[188]

2
South African in Sri Lanka ODI Series
2004
247 (5 Matches); 5 Ct. ; 5 St.
 Sri Lanka Won the series 5–0[189]

3
Sri Lankan in Bangladesh ODI Series
2005–06
182 (3 Matches); 5 Ct.
 Sri Lanka Won the series 2–1[190]

4
Tri-Series in Bangladesh
2009–10
274 (5 Matches); 7 Ct.
 Sri Lanka Won the series[191]

5
South African in Sri Lanka
2013
372 (5 Matches); 11 Ct. ; 2 st. ; 1 run out
 Sri Lanka Won the series[192]

text: One-Day International Cricket – Man of the Match Awards[edit]

text:
#
Series
Season
Against
Match Performance
Result

1
2nd Match – Singer Triangular Series
2000
 South Africa
85 ; 1 Ct.
 Sri Lanka Won by 37 runs[32]

2
7th Match – NatWest Series
2002
 England
70
 Sri Lanka Won by 23 runs[193]

3
2nd Match – Cherry Blossom Sharjah Cup
2003
 Pakistan
100*
 Pakistan Won by 7 wickets[194]

4
4th Match – Cherry Blossom Sharjah Cup
2003
 Kenya
103*
 Sri Lanka Won by 129 runs[195]

5
4th Match – South Africa in Sri Lanka ODI Series
2004
 South Africa
74* ; 1 St.
 Sri Lanka Won by 7 wickets[196]

6
Final – Paktel Cup
2004–05
 Pakistan
68 ; 1 Ct. ; 2 St.
 Sri Lanka Won by 199 runs[197]

7
2nd Match – Afro-Asia Cup
2005
 Africa XI
61 ; 1 Ct.
 Asian XI Won by 17 runs[198]

8
3rd Match – VB Series
2005–06
 South Africa
88
 Sri Lanka Won by 94 runs[199]

9
1st Final – VB Series
2005–06
 Australia
83 ; 1 St.
 Sri Lanka Won by 22 runs[200]

10
3rd Match – Sri Lanka in Bangladesh ODI Series
2005–06
 Bangladesh
109 ; 1 Ct.
 Sri Lanka Won by 78 runs[201]

11
2nd Match – Sri Lanka in India ODI Series
2006–07
 India
110 ; 2 Ct. ; 1 St.
 Sri Lanka Won by 5 runs[202]

12
8th Match – Commonwealth Bank Series
2007–08
 India
128 ; 1 Ct.
 India Won by 2 wickets[203]

13
3rd Match – Asia Cup
2008
 Bangladesh
101 ; 2 Ct. ; 1 St.
 Sri Lanka Won by 131 runs[204]

14
8th Match – Asia Cup
2008
 Pakistan
112 ; 1 St.
 Sri Lanka Won by 64 runs[205]

15
Final – Tri-Series in Bangladesh
2008–09
 Bangladesh
59 ; 4 Ct.
 Sri Lanka Won by 2 wickets[206]

16
5th Match – India in Sri Lanka ODI Series
2008–09
 India
84 ; 2 Ct.
 Sri Lanka Won by 68 runs[207]

17
3rd Match – West Indies in Sri Lanka ODI Series
2010–11
 West Indies
75 ; 1 Ct.
 Sri Lanka Won by 26 runs[208]

18
38th Match – Cricket World Cup
2011
 New Zealand
111 ; 1 Ct. ; 1 St.
 Sri Lanka Won by 112 runs[209]

19
1st Semi Final – Cricket World Cup
2011
 New Zealand
54 ; 3 Ct.
 Sri Lanka Won by 5 wickets[210]

20
5th Match – Sri Lanka in South Africa ODI Series
2011–12
 South Africa
102
 Sri Lanka Won by 2 wickets[211]

21
8th Match – 2013 ICC Champions Trophy
2013
 England
134*
 Sri Lanka Won by 7 wickets[212]

22
5th Match – West Indies Triangular Series in 2013
2013
 West Indies
90* ; 1 Ct.
 Sri Lanka Won by 39 runs(D/L)[213]

23
1st Match – South Africa in Sri Lanka 2013
2013
 South Africa
169 ; 2 Ct. ; 1 st.
 Sri Lanka Won by 180 runs[214]

24
2nd Match – Sri Lanka in Bangladesh 2013
2014
 Bangladesh
128 ; 2 Ct.
 Sri Lanka Won by 61 runs[215]

25
4th Match – Asia Cup 2014
2014
 India
103 ; 1 st.
 Sri Lanka Won by 2 wickets[216]

26
7th Match – Asia Cup 2014
2014
 Afghanistan
76 ; 1 ct.
 Sri Lanka Won by 129 runs[217]

27
4th Match – England in Sri Lanka 2014
2014
 England
86 ; 2 ct.
 Sri Lanka Won by 6 wickets[218]

28
6th Match – England in Sri Lanka 2014
2014
 England
112 ; 4 ct.
 Sri Lanka Won by 90 wickets[219]

29
7th Match – Sri Lanka in New Zealand 2015
2015
 New Zealand
113* ; 2 ct.
 Sri Lanka Won by 34 runs[220]

30
22nd Match – 2015 ICC Cricket World Cup
2015
 England
117*
 Sri Lanka Won by 9 wickets[221]

31
35th Match – 2015 ICC Cricket World Cup
2015
 Scotland
124 ; 2 Ct.
 Sri Lanka Won by 148 runs[222]

text: Twenty20 International Cricket – Man of the match awards[edit]

text:
#
Series
Season
Match Performance
Result

1
2009 ICC World Twenty20 (AUS vs SL) in England
2009
55* runs & 1 ct.
 won by 6 wickets.

2
Jaypee Cup in India
2009
78 runs.
 won by 29 runs.

3
2014 ICC World Twenty20 final (IND vs SL) in Bangladesh
2014
52* runs.
 won by 6 wickets.