Kumar Sangakkara quotes:

I am Tamil, Sinhalese, Muslim and Burgher. I am a Buddhist, a Hindu, a follower of Islam and Christianity. I am today, and always, proudly Sri Lankan.

Strange to wake-up this morning as a former ODI cricketer, but it's been a great honour and privilege playing for Sri Lanka during the past 15 years. At the end of the day, I am very fortunate to have enjoyed a long career playing with and against some great players. Thanks for all the encouragement and support over the years.

Actually nobody can be perfect in cricket. Everybody makes mistakes. It is important to learn from your mistakes and correct them.

I like to play test cricket. It is really challenging, because you need to really score runs, stay in the wicket and continue for five days.

I think it is just the way he has changed the game overall and his own game because there are so many situations he has faced. He is now competing mostly against himself, like most great cricketers do. I think he has mastered all of them. The only challenge he has is to beat himself every time he walks out there because he has done almost everything.

Fans of different races, castes, ethnicities and religions who together celebrate their diversity by uniting for a common national cause. They are my foundation, they are my family. I will play my cricket for them. Their spirit is the true spirit of cricket. With me are all my people. I am Tamil, Sinhalese, Muslim and Burgher. I am a Buddhist, a Hindu, a follower of Islam and Christianity. I am today, and always, proudly Sri Lankan

Growing up I had lots of role models. Looking back, my parents were my first role models.

I don't want to extend my career for individual records. This is the time to go.

Retiring from cricket is not about form. I feel that the time is now and it's right. I've tried to give everything I have when I've played the game, the game goes on. You can't hold onto it and people shouldn't be too sentimental. I think a lot better players and greater players have gone, and the game has gone on and there are new players who take the mantle, and in my case it won't be any different.

We should not allow fear or anxiety to stop us from doing something. If you think through something well and prepare thoroughly, you can do a lot of things you think you can't.

We've made three World T20 finals and won one - that's not by power-hitting. We've beaten the power-hitting sides quite easily and convincingly in all of those tournaments.