Mahela Jayawardena and Kumar Sangakkara scripted history as the Sri Lankan duo went on to put up a record partnership of 624 runs during a Test match against South Africa in Colombo on July 29, 2006. This went on to become the highest-ever partnership in the history of the longest format of the game, where Sangakkara scored 287 runs while skipper Jayawardene registered his highest Test score of 374 runs.
Talking about the match, batting first, South Africa were bowled out for 169 runs in the first innings. AB de Villiers was top scorer with 65 runs off 72 balls, hitting eight boundaries. For Sri Lanka, Dilhara Fernando and Muttiah Muralitharan took four wickets each while Farveez Maharoof put two in his bag. In reply, Sri Lanka also had a poor start as they lost both their openers at the score of 14 runs. After that, Mahela Jayawardene and Kumar Sangakkara took charge of the innings.
Kumar Sangakkara and Mahela Jayawardene’s historic partnership guided India to big win over South Africa
Taking the innings further from 14/2, Mahela Jayawardena and Kumar Sangakkara went on to put a record-breaking partnership surpassing previous record of their country-mates, Sanath Jayasuriya and Roshan Mahanama, who added 576 runs in a Test match against India in 1997. The duo added 624 runs before the fall of the third wicket. Sangakkara fell 13 runs short of his triple ton as he got out after scoring 287(457) runs, hitting 35 boundaries.
On the other hand, Jayawardene was also about to complete his 400 but got out at his highest Test score of 374 runs from 572 balls, hitting 43 fours and a six. With the help of a record partnership of Sangakkara and Jayawardene, Sri Lanka posted 756/5 taking a massive lead of 587 runs in the first innings. In reply, the Proteas were bowled out for 434 runs in the second innings as Sri Lanka won by an innings and 153 runs.
