Kumar Sangakkara asked by Sri Lankan minister to delay retirement

Sri Lanka batsman Kumar Sangakkara has been urged by the country’s sports minister to reconsider plans to retire from Test cricket in August.

Navin Dissanayake said he hoped a government-ordered overhaul of the sport might persuade the 37-year-old to play for another year.

Sangakarra, who scored a record four successive ODI hundreds during the World Cup, has retired from the one-day format.

He announced during the tournament he also plans to leave the Test team this summer.

But Dissanayake is hoping the former skipper changes his mind after hiring an interim management team, headed by former Test player Sidath Wettimuny, to "clean up" the cricket board.

"As sports minister, I humbly appeal to Kumar to reconsider (retirement) and play for the country for at least one more year," he said.

"I spoke with him (Sangakkara) in New Zealand during the World Cup.

"He was very disappointed and unhappy (with the cricket administration) and now that there is a change, I think there is a possibility that he will change his mind."

Sangakarra is the No 1 batsman in the world rankings for Test cricket and is No 2 in the ODI rankings.

The veteran has already signed up to play for Surrey in 2015 and 2016.

Sri Lanka are due to play both Pakistan and India over the summer and Sangakarra said recently that would be his final series.

"There are Test matches in June and July, and I will be done by the end of August," he told the ESPNcricinfo website.

"A series or two in June and in August, and that's it."