 Sankar was born at Cornelia Ida, in what is now the Essequibo Islands-West Demerara region of Guyana, but was then considered to be part of the county of Demerara in British Guiana.He is thus the only Essequibo first-class cricketer born outside of Essequibo county.Sankar's father, Kayman Sankar, who died in February 2014, was an Indo-Guyanese rice magnate, who rose from a labourer to "Guyana’s most successful rice farmer".