But it was his Lord's lecture which underlined what cricket and Sangakkara have meant to Sri Lanka - a country torn apart by riots, war, the 2004 tsunami and the divisive effects of caste, religion, politics, corruption and the moneyed elite.
In New Zealand, nothing (since the New Zealand Wars and maybe the 1981 Springbok tour) has set people against people quite so vehemently as in Sri Lanka over the past 30-odd years.
The comparison comes to mind only because New Zealand cricket, led by coach Mike Hesson and skipper Brendon McCullum, have instituted a definite style, catching the imagination of the nation.
Sangakkara, in his Lord's speech, talked about a style to throw off the heavy influence of their colonial overlords (Sri Lanka was colonised by the British, Dutch and Portuguese). "We played cricket by the book," he said, "copying the orthodox and conservative styles of the traditional cricketing powerhouses. There was none of the live-for-the-moment and happy-go-lucky attitudes that underpin our own identity."
That changed when mould-breaking skipper Arjuna Ranatunga broke the hold of elite schools whose former pupils dominated the national cricket team; the game became open to talent, not connections. The Sri Lankan style was also a response to the darkness enveloping the country - the 1983 race riots, the communist uprising later that decade where Sangakkara said: "...charred bodies on the roadsides and floating corpses in the river was terrifyingly commonplace."
The civil war saw a nation under siege from powerful vehicle and suicide bombs. Sangakkara said parents travelling to work would catch different buses so one might survive a fatal attack. Then, in 1996, Sri Lanka won the World Cup.
"In the World Cup, a country found a new beginning; a new inspiration upon which to build their dreams of a better future. Here were 15 individuals from different backgrounds, races and religions - each fiercely proud of his own individuality and yet they united not just as a team but as a family," said Sangakkara.
"The cheering of a nation was a sound no bomb or exploding shell could drown. Cricket became an integral and all-important aspect of our national psyche. It is indeed a pity that life is not cricket. If it were, we would not have seen the festering wounds of an ignorant war."
The war cost up to 100,000 lives. Sangakkara, one of the team who went out on the road to help after the 2004 tsunami, also spoke of his awe at the unbowed spirit of his countrymen. Nearly 31,000 died but, in the aftermath, terrorists worked with traditional enemies to help.
"I vowed to myself that never again would I be tempted to abuse the privilege these very people had given me - the honour ... of representing them on the field, playing a game they adored."
He also told of the 2009 machine-gun attack on the Sri Lankan team bus by terrorists in Pakistan. Several were wounded, including Sangakkara who said: "We realised what some of our fellow Sri Lankans had experienced every day for nearly 30 years."
We in New Zealand know about sport as a bit of a religion, thanks to rugby.
We also know a little about helping understanding between people from different backgrounds and race.
But it's debatable we'd ever get a retiring All Black, for example, saying something like this about the fans, as Sangakkara did at Lord's: "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, Hindu, a follower of Islam and Christianity. I am today, and always, proudly, Sri Lankan."
Sangakkara will play his final tests in August this year and will then slip into total retirement. Wherever I am on that day, I will do my best to rise and clap him off the field, truly one of the game's greats.
