Mahela Jayawardene

Denagamage Praboth Mahela de Silva Jayawardene (Sinhala: දෙනගමගේ ප්‍රබෝත් මහේල ද සිල්වා ජයවර්ධන; born 27 May 1977) is a Sri Lankan former professional cricketer, captain, and batsman of the Sri Lankan national cricket team. During the time of his captaincy Jayawardene led his national team to be the winners of the 2008 Asia Cup. Jayawardene was the first Sri Lankan in the history of the ICC Men's...

Denagamage Praboth Mahela de Silva Jayawardene (Sinhala: දෙනගමගේ ප්‍රබෝත් මහේල ද සිල්වා ජයවර්ධන; born 27 May 1977) is a Sri Lankan former professional cricketer, captain, and batsman of the Sri Lankan national cricket team. During the time of his captaincy Jayawardene led his national team to be the winners of the 2008 Asia Cup. Jayawardene was the first Sri Lankan in the history of the ICC Men's T20 World Cup to score a century which he did with his 100 runs against Zimbabwe in the 2010 tournament. He made his Test cricket debut in August 1997 and his One Day International (ODI) debut the following season in January 1998. In 2006 along with his teammate Kumar Sangakkara, Jayawardene made the highest ever partnership in First-class cricket, scoring 624 runs for the third wicket in the first test match of Sri Lanka's home series against South Africa. He appeared in 652 international matches representing Sri Lanka in a career spanning for about 18 years. During his international career, he also formed a friendship and healthy rivalry with Sangakkara. Mahela is the first player in the history of Sri Lankan cricket to score over 10,000 Test runs and is also the second Sri Lankan player to score more than 10,000 runs in ODIs after Sanath Jayasuriya. Mahela Jayawardene currently serves as the Chairman of Sri Lanka National Sports Council. Jayawardene's highest test score, 374 against South Africa, is the highest score by a right-handed batsman in the history of Test cricket. Along with teammate Sangakkara, he has the most career partnership runs for the 3rd wicket in Tests, scoring 5890 runs surpassing the 5826 run record of Rahul Dravid and Sachin Tendulkar. Jayawardene was a key member of the team that won the 2014 ICC World Twenty20, the 2002 ICC Champions Trophy, and was part of the team that made to the final of 2007 Cricket World Cup, 2011 Cricket World Cup, 2009 ICC World Twenty20 and 2012 ICC World Twenty20. In 2006, Jayawardene was named by the International Cricket Council as the best International captain of the year and was nominated in 2007 as the best Test cricket player of the year. He is also known for his fielding skills in the inner ring, with a report prepared by ESPNcricinfo in late 2005 showing that since the 1999 Cricket World Cup, he had effected the most run-outs in ODI cricket of any fielder, with the fifth highest run-out/match ratio in ODI's. Jayawardene also worked as an international TV commentator in the first test at Headingley on 19 May 2016 between England and Sri Lanka. He also serves as a board member in several unlisted public limited companies in Sri Lanka. He has been a vocal critic of Sri Lanka Cricket over the years especially after 2015 where the national team has suffered a significant decline. In November 2021, he was inducted to the ICC Cricket Hall of Fame. He became only the third Sri Lankan to be inducted to the ICC Cricket Hall of Fame after Muttiah Muralitharan and Kumar Sangakkara. Career Early and domestic career Jayawardene was educated at Nalanda College Colombo. At an early age Mahela's father, Senerath Jayawardene, introduced him to the Lionel Coaching Clinic run by Nondescripts Cricket Club in Cinnamon Gardens. It was there that he learned to play cricket. He was a fast bowler initially during his school days and later transformed as a top order batsman. Jayawardene captained Nalanda College Colombo first XI cricket team in 1994. He developed his talents through the school cricket team, eventually becoming captain. He was runner-up for the best schoolboy cricketer award during the 1994 cricketing season. Domestically he has played for Sinhalese Sports Club since 1995. He made his Twenty20 debut on 17 August 2004, for Sinhalese Sports Club in the 2004 SLC Twenty20 Tournament. He was signed to play as an overseas player for Derbyshire for the first half of the 2008 English cricket season. However, his commitments to Sri Lanka and involvement in the Indian Premier League prevented him from playing any part in the 2008 county season. International career Career in the 1990s Mahela Jayawardene is the 69th Sri Lanka Test Cap, having made his debut against India at Colombo in 1997. Jayawardene made his Test debut in the record breaking Test in 1997 against India at R.P.S., Colombo. Jayawardene added 66 to Sri Lanka's first innings score of 952/6, the highest Test score ever. He was at the crease when the previous highest Test score was surpassed. Early in his career he scored 167 against New Zealand and 242 against India. Jayawardene's One Day International debut was against Zimbabwe at Premadasa in January 1998. Sri Lanka won the match, with Jayawardene hitting the winning run. In the next game Jayawardene scored 74. It took only 11 matches before he scored his first century, which was against England in the Carlton and United World Series game at Adelaide. Jayawardene entered a pressure situation, with Sri Lanka struggling at 134/4 in the run chase, but made an innings of 120 runs to win the match. The match is notable for Ross Emerson's no-balling of Muttiah Muralitharan for throwing, which led the Sri Lankan captain Arjuna Ranatunga to lead his team to the edge of the field and consider walking out of the match, as well as physical shoulder-barging by some players. Captaincy Jayawardene was the captain of the Sri Lankan national team during the England tour in 2006 in the absence of Marvan Atapattu. He led his team to 1–1 draw in the Test series and an emphatic 5–0 whitewash in the ODI series. In the first Test of the 2006 Test series against South Africa, Jayawardene shared a world record partnership of 624 runs alongside Kumar Sangakkara. This partnership, the highest for any wicket in first-class cricket history, and the first instance of a stand of 600 or more in a first-class or Test match innings, smashed the previous third wicket stand for Sri Lanka, surpassing 262 which involved himself along with Thilan Samaraweera. It also broke the previous record for the third wicket partnership for all Test playing nations surpassing the 467 run partnership made by the New Zealanders Martin Crowe and Andrew Jones. During this innings, Jayawardene became the first Sri Lankan captain to score a Test triple-century, making 374 off 572 deliveries with 43 fours and 1 six, the fourth highest individual innings score in Test match cricket and the highest by a right-hander. He is also the first batsman to pass 350 in a Test without going on to break the world record. He also surpassed the highest score by a Sri Lankan in a Test match, previously held by Sanath Jayasuriya's 340 in 1997 against India, coincidentally also produced in a world record partnership. For his performances in 2006, he was named as captain of the World ODI XI by the ICC. He was also named in the World ODI XI by ESPNcricinfo for 2007. He was also chosen as a Wisden Cricketer of the Year in 2007. In the 2007 Cricket World Cup, Jayawardene scored one century and four half-centuries and was the second highest run-scorer of the tournament, which was topped by Australia's Matthew Hayden. The century he scored against New Zealand helped Sri Lanka win the Semi-Final. Sri Lanka finished runners-up in the World Cup losing to Australia in the final. His knock was named as the third-best ODI Batting Performance of the year by ESPNcricinfo. He is the only batsman in World Cup ODI history to score hundreds in both a semi final and a final of the tournament. He achieved this feat, by scoring a century in 2007 Cricket World Cup semi final against New Zealand, and a century in 2011 Cricket World Cup final against India. He was named in the 'Team of the Tournament' by ESPNcricinfo for the 2007 World Cup. He has scored centuries against all Test-playing nations. He achieved this feat on 21 February 2009 by scoring his maiden Test century against Pakistan at the National Stadium in Karachi, Pakistan. Jayawardene is the recipient of International Cricket Council's "Captain of the Year 2006", Captain of the "World One-Day International Team of the Year 2006", Wisden Cricketer of the Year 2007, and the record holder for the highest score (374 runs) by a Sri Lankan in Test cricket. He also led Sri Lanka when the team won the "Spirit of Cricket Award" in 2007 and 2008. For his performances in 2008, he was named in the World Test XI by ICC. Jayawardene led Sri Lanka to Pakistan for a Test series in March–April 2009. The series was conducted after the Indian team withdrew from playing in Pakistan, following the 2008 Mumbai attacks. The first Test ended in a draw, even though he scored a double century in the first Test. Sri Lanka was in a good position in the Test with Thilan Samaraweera hitting his second successive double hundred of the series and Tillakaratne Dilshan scoring a century. On their way to the Gaddafi Stadium for the third day's play, the bus that carried the Sri Lankan players was fired at by 12 masked gunmen. Jayawardene, along with six other Sri Lankan cricketers, sustained injuries. Six policemen who guarded the bus and two civilians were killed in the attack. Jayawardene was appointed vice-captain of the Sri Lankan team once again under Kumar Sangakkara after Muttiah Muralitharan retired from Test cricket, but resigned after the team's World Cup defeat. He was appointed as captain again after Tillakaratne Dilshan resigned from the captaincy in 2012. He was the captain of Kochi Tuskers Kerala in the Indian Premier League and the Delhi Daredevils. He won the Spirit of Cricket Award 2013. Post-captaincy However, he regained some form during the IPL 2010. Before starting their chase of 201 runs against Kolkata Knight Riders, Jayawardene expressed his desire to open the innings to captain Kumar Sangakkara. Sangakkara agreed to his fellow countrymate and Jayawardene scored a blazing 110* off just 59 balls winning them the match in the second last over. Sangakkara, impressed by his teammate set him as opener for the Kings XI Punjab. He scored a few more entertaining knocks in vain including 44 against the Rajasthan Royals and 93* against the Deccan Chargers. He ended the tournament with a batting average of 43.90. He was the 6th highest run scorer for the tournament and highest for the Kings XI Punjab. With Kumar Sangakkara as the Sri Lankan captain too, Jaywardene was sent as opener for the 2010 ICC World Twenty20. In the first match against New Zealand, he scored 81 off just 51 balls. However, this knock went in vain due to the collapse in the Sri Lankan batting line-up after his wicket fell which resulted in a total of only 135 on board batting first. However, in his very next match against Zimbabwe, he scored 100 off just 64 balls helping them win the match helping them win the match defending a total of 173. He thus became the 4th player to score a century in an Twenty20 International match and the first Sri Lankan to do so. Sri Lanka won the match by D/L method. In the very next match against West Indies, he scored 98* off just 56 balls narrowly missing his second century in a row. This became his third consecutive score above 80. He was named in the 'Team of the Tournament' for the 2011 World Cup by the ICC. His knock of 103* against India in the 2011 World Cup Final at Mumbai was nominated to be one of the best ODI batting performance of the year by ESPNcricinfo. For his performances in 2011, he was named in the World ODI XI by the ESPNcricinfo. During the second Test of Sri Lanka's tour of South Africa in 2011–12, Jayawardene became the ninth player in cricket history, and the first Sri Lankan, to score 10,000 Test runs. At the end of the tour he was reappointed as Sri Lanka's captain, following the resignation of Tillakaratne Dilshan. His knock of 180 against England at Galle was also nominated to be one of the best Test batting performance of the year 2012 by ESPNcricinfo. Jayawardene led Sri Lanka to the final of the 2012 ICC World Twenty20 against the West