Mahela Jayawardene

At 46 years old, Mahela Jayawardene has this physical status:

Denagamage Praboth Mahela de Silva Jayawardene (born 27 May 1977), known as Mahela Jayawardene, is a Sri Lankan cricket coach and former cricketer.

Jayawardene's highest test score, 374 against South Africa is the highest test score by a right handed batsman in the history of Test cricket.Jayawardene made his Test cricket debut in 1997 and his One Day International (ODI) debut the following season.

In 2006 he made the highest ever score by a Sri Lankan in Test cricket, scoring 374 in the second Test of Sri Lanka's home series against South Africa.

He has a test cricket average of just under 50 and a One Day average in the 30s.

He is the first player in the history of Sri Lankan cricket to score over 10,000 Test runs.

He is also the second Sri Lankan player to score more than 10,000 runs in ODIs.

Despite his relatively low ODI average, Jayawardene is considered to be one of the best batsmen produced by Sri Lanka. Along with teammate Sangakkara, he recorded for the most partnership runs for the 3rd wicket in Tests, scoring 5890 runs surpassing 5826 run stand of Rahul Dravid and Sachin Tendulkar , during the first test match against Pakistan at Galle International Stadium, which was his last test at the venue.

He scored 56 runs at that match, where his counterpart scored 221 runs. Jayawardene was a key member of the team that won the 2014 ICC World Twenty20 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 Cricinfo in late 2005 showing that since the 1999 Cricket World Cup, he had effected the most run-outs in ODI cricket of any fieldsman, with the fifth highest run-out/match ratio in ODI's.

Statistics also reveal that c Jayawardene b Muralitharan is the most common bowler-fielder combination in the history of Test cricket. Jayawardene also worked as an international TV commentator in the first test at Headingley on 19 May 2016 between England and Sri Lanka.

Personal life

Jayawardene was born to Sunila and Senerath Jayawardene at Colombo in 1977. He had one younger brother, Dhishal, who died of a brain tumour, aged 16. This affected Jayawardene psychologically, halting his cricket career for some time. Eventually he was persuaded to go on and set about rebuilding his career by his parents and teammates.

Jayawardene was married to Christina Mallika Sirisena, a travel consultant. They have one daughter, Sansa Arya Jayawardene.

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Career

Jayawardene was educated at Nalanda College Colombo. Senerath Jayawardene, Mahela's father, was introduced to the Lionel Coaching Clinic run by Nondescripts Cricket Club in Cinnamon Gardens at an early age. He learned to play cricket there. He started as a fast bowler in his elementary days and then became a top order batsman later. In 1994, Jayawardene captained Nalanda College Colombo's first XI cricket team. He began to excel in the school cricket team and later became captain. During the 1994 cricketing season, he was runner-up for the best schoolboy cricketer award.

He has been playing for Sinhalese Sports Club since 1995. In the 2004 SLC Twenty20 Tournament, he made his Twenty20 debut on August 17, 2004, for Sinhalese Sports Club. For the first half of the 2008 English cricket season, he was signed to play for Derbyshire as an overseas player. However, his contributions to Sri Lanka and his participation in the Indian Premier League barred him from playing in the 2008 county season.

International career

Mahela Jayawardene is the 69th Sri Lanka Test Capt. He made his first appearance against India at Colombo in 1997. In 1997 against India at R.P.S., Colombo, Jayawardene made his Test debut in the record breaking Test against India. Jayawardene scored 66 to Sri Lanka's first innings rating of 952/6, the highest Test score ever. When the previous highest Test result was surpassed, he was at the crease. He scored 167 against New Zealand and 242 against India early in his career.

Jayawardene's debut at One Day International in January 1998 was against Zimbabwe at Premadasa. Sri Lanka won the game, with Jayawardene winning the match. Jayawardene scored 74 points in the next game. In the Carlton and United World Series match at Adelaide, it took only 11 games before he scored his first century, against England. Jayawardene was put in a pressure situation, with Sri Lanka struggling at 134/4 in the run chase, but the team was able to win by 120 runs. Ross Emerson's no-balling of Muttiah Muraran for throwing, which led to Sri Lankan captain Arjuna Ranatunga to lead his team to the field and rule out of the game, as well as physical shoulder-barging by some players.

In the absence of Marvan Atapattu, Jayawardene was the captain of the Sri Lankan national team during the England tour in 2006. He led his team to 1–1 draw in the Test series and an emphatic 5–0 whitewash in the ODI series.

Jayawardene shared a world record partnership of 624 runs with Kumar Sangakkara in the first Test of the 2006 Test series against South Africa. This alliance, as 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, defeating 262 which required him and Thilan Samaraweera. It also tied for the third wicket partnership for all Test playing nations, defeating the New Zealanders' 467 run partnership. Jayawardene made 374 off 572 deliveries, the fourth best individual innings score in Test match cricket and the highest by a right-hander in this century. He is also the first batsman to reach 350 runs in a Test without going on to break the world record. He also set a new world record partnership, surpassing the highest score by a Sri Lankan in a Test match held by Sanath Jayasuriya's 340 in 1997 against India.

The ICC named him captain of the World ODI XI by the ICC in 2006 for his performances in 2006. In 2007, he was also listed in the World ODI XI by Cricinfo.

In 2007, he was also named as the Year's Wisden Cricketer of the Year. Jayawardene registered one century and four half-centuries in the 2007 Cricket World Cup, finishing second in the tournament's second highest run scorer, behind Australia's Matthew Hayden. Sri Lanka defeated Sri Lanka in the Semi-Final after the century was scored against New Zealand. In the World Cup, Sri Lanka finished runners-up, losing to Australia in the final. ESPNCricinfo ranked him as the third-best ODI Batting Performance of the year. 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 made it possible by scoring a century in 2007 Cricket World Cup semi-finals against New Zealand and a century against India in 2011. He was selected by Cricinfo in the 2007 World Cup as one of the 'Team of the Tournament.'

He has scored centuries against all Test-playing nations. On Sunday, he accomplished this feat by scoring his first Test century against Pakistan at the National Stadium in Karachi, Pakistan.

Jayawardene is the recipient of the International Cricket Council's "Captain of the Year 2006," the Year's Best Cricketer of the Year 2006," Wisden Cricketer of the Year 2006," and the record holder for the highest score (374 runs) by a Sri Lankan in Test cricket, a Sri Lankan. He served as the team's captain when the team received the "Spirit of Cricket Award" in 2007 and 2008. He was selected in the World Test XI by the International Criminal Organisation in 2008 for his appearances in 2008.

In March-to-April 2009, Jayawardene led Sri Lanka to Pakistan for a Test series. Following the 2009 Mumbai attacks, the Indian team was barred from playing in Pakistan. And though he scored a double century in the first Test, the first Test resulted in a draw. Sri Lanka was in a good spot in the Test with Thilan Samaraweera's second consecutive double hundred of the series and Tillakaratne Dilshan's scoring a century.

The bus carrying the Sri Lankan players was fired by 12 masked gunmen on their way to Gaddafi Stadium for the third day's play. Jayawardene and six other Sri Lankan cricketers sustained injuries. In the attack, six policemen who were on the bus and two civilians were killed.

After Muttiah Muradocharan retired from test cricket but resigned following the team's World Cup loss, Jayawardene was named vice-captain of the Sri Lankan team under Kumar Sangakkara. After Tillakaratne Dilshan resigned from the captaincy in 2012, he was recalled as captain again. In the Indian Premier League and the Delhi Daredevils, he was the captain of Kochi Tuskers Kerala. In 2013, he was named Best of Cricket in the Spirit of Cricket Award.

However, he returned to form in the IPL 2010 season. Jayawardene expressed his inability to open the innings to captain Kumar Sangakkara before starting their chase of 201 runs against the Kolkata Knight Riders. Sangakkara turned to his fellow countrymate and Jayawardene who won the match by a blazing 110* off only 59 balls. Sangakkara, who was inspired by his colleagues' choice, has been chosen as the Kings XI Punjab's opener. He had a few more thrilling knocks in vain, including 44 against the Rajasthan Royals and 93 against the Deccan Chargers. He had a 43.90 batting average at the tournament. He was the sixth highest run scorer for the tournament and the highest for the Kings XI Punjab.

Jaywardene was sent as the Sri Lankan captain as well, as Kumar Sangakkara as the Sri Lankan captain. He scored 81 out of 51 balls in the first match against New Zealand. However, this blow was in vain due to the Sri Lankan batting line's death after his wicket fell, resulting in a total of just 135 on board batting first. However, he scored 100 off just 64 balls, helping them win the match and defending the total number of 173. He became the fourth player to score a century in a Twenty20 International match and the first Sri Lankan to do so. Sri Lanka won the match by D/L technique. He scored 98* off just 56 balls in his second century in a row. This was his third straight score over 80 points.

The ICC has named him in the 'Team of the Tournament' for the 2011 World Cup.

ESPNCricinfo selected 103* against India in the 2011 World Cup Final in Mumbai, one of the year's best ODI batting results, according to him. By the ESPNCricinfo, he was named in the World ODI XI for his 2011 appearances.

Jayawardene made his ninth appearance in cricket and the first Sri Lankan to score 10,000 Test runs during his second Test of Sri Lanka's tour of South Africa in 2011. Following Tillakaratne Dilshan's departure, he was reappointed Sri Lanka's captain at the end of the tour.

ESPNCricinfo's 180 against England at Galle was also named as one of the year's finest Test batting performances of the year 2012.

Sri Lanka defeated the West Indies in the final of the 2012 ICC World Twenty2020 on home turf, with Jayawardene leading Sri Lanka to the final. Sri Lanka were already making strides in chasing the target despite limiting the West Indies to 137/6, with Jayawardene well-equipped. Captain Jayawardene noticed that the West Indies were just behind on Duckworth/Lewis with a hint of rain in the air halfway through their innings. He opted to increase the innings later in the game, but it was only after the game that triggered a crash. The rain never came, and Sri Lanka fell a long way short of the intended target. After the match, he resigned as Sri Lanka's T20 captain, and he resigned from T20 cricket in 2014. By Cricinfo, he was chosen in the second XI of the 2014 ICC World T20 Cup.

The ICC named him captain of the 'Team of the Tournament' for the 2012 T20 World Cup.

With 218 catches in 448 matches, he holds the record for the most catches in ODIs.

In the four ICC World Twenty20 World Cups played to date (2007, 2009, 2010, and 2012), he holds the record for the most runs in Twenty20 World Cups, scoring 858 runs in 25 innings, an average of 40.8 runs per inning.

Jayawaradene has signed for Somerset County Cricket to represent them in the English T20 league, which was announced on March 31st.

Jayawardene became only the second cricketer after Sachin Tendulkar played in 600 international matches on February 25, 2014, in an Asia Cup match against Pakistan.

Jayawardene announced his retirement from Test cricket following the 2014 Pakistan series on July 14th. He played his last Test innings at the Sinhalese Sports Club, where he scored 54 runs in his first test innings. Thousands of tributes had been scattered around the grounds. Legends never retires, according to Russell Arnold.

In the last match of the England ODI series, he played his last One-Day innings in Sri Lanka on December 13, 2014. In his last innings on home soil, he was trapped on 28 runs. Angelo Mathews, the Sri Lankan skipper, was given the ball to take the final wicket. He took his eighth ODI wicket by dismissing James Tredwell by a stumping, with Sangakkara behind the stumps. He and Sangakkara declared that they would withdraw from T20I cricket after the 2014 ICC T20 World Cup, and that he was also involved in Sri Lanka's triumph at the 2014 T20 World Cup, which was also Sri Lanka's first ICC World Twenty2020 title.

He scored his 18th ODI century against New Zealand on January 11, 2015, he scored his 18th ODI century. This was his first ODI century in New Zealand during his 17-year ODI career.

Jayawardene made the most cap for Sri Lanka in ODIs during a match against Australia at the 2015 ICC Cricket World Cup, defeating Jayasuriya's 445 ODI matches.

Jayawardene's last ODI was the quarter finals of the 2015 World Cup, against South Africa. Sri Lanka failed to qualify for the semi-finals for the first time since 1999. He only scored 4 runs.

Coaching career

Jayawardene was hired as a batting advisor for the England team in August 2015. He accepted the role and was a member of the England coaching staff traveling to the UAE in October for the series against Pakistan, which is up to the World Twenty20 in India.

Mahela Jayawardene was promoted as the head coach of the Mumbai Indians team, replacing Ricky Ponting, who was drafted in 2017 for the 10th edition of the Indian Premier League. On May 21, 2017, Mumbai Indians defeated Rising Pune Supergiant at Rajiv Gandhi International Cricket Stadium in Hyderabad, beating Rising Pune Supergiant. He helped Mumbai Indians repeat the feat in 2019 and 2020, becoming only the second team to defend the trophy ever.

He was appointed as the head coach of Bangladesh's Premier League franchise Khulna Titans on a two-year deal, replacing Stuart Law, who took up as the head coach of the West Indies cricket team on May 26th. He was appointed as the head coach of Southampton's inaugural edition of The Hundred in 2019.

He was hired as the adviser of Sri Lanka's national under-19 cricket team in July 2021 as part of the 2022 Under-19 Cricket World Cup's preparations, and he denied that he would be working as a consultant for free of charge.

During the first round of the 2021 ICC Men's T20 World Cup, in October 2021, he served as a consultant coach for Sri Lanka's national team and was part of the support staff. However, he decided not to return to the first round of the ICC Men's T20 World Cup in the UAE due in large part to the bio-bubble fatigue and for personal reasons. Since being in quarantines and bubbles since June 20,2021, he confessed that it was impossible for a father to not see his daughter for 135 days. During his brief time with the team during the World Cup, he was reported to have raised the barrow's performance as well as increased the quality of data analysis used by the team.

He was appointed by Sri Lanka Cricket as the Sri Lankan national cricket team's assistant coach, Sri Lanka's national U19 cricket team, and the Sri Lanka A cricket team all began working from 1 January 2022 for a one-year period. In the IPL and Southern Brave, his coaching stints in franchise cricket for Mumbai Indians will be split in order to make space for his coaching stints in franchise cricket for Mumbai Indians. During his one-year tenure as a consultant coach on Sri Lanka's national team, he would provide strategic assistance to players and management teams at SLC's high-performance center.

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