MAHELA JAYAWARDENE
Srilanka’s previous cricket captain Mahela Jayawardene was really ruined India’s bowling in ongoing test between India and Srilanka in Ahmedabad. He gained 275 runs in this test and Indian bowlers were looked helpless to stop the powerful batting of him. At last Indian bowler Amit Mishra took his wicket. Mahela Jayawardene along with Prasanna Jayawardene with 154 runs gave Sri Lanka to a very good score in this test. They broke a 72-year-old world record for the highest sixth-wicket partnership in Tests by gaining 351 runs against India. They overcome 346-runs partnership by Australian great Don Bradman and Jack Fingleton against England in Melbourne in 1937. Mahela gained his sixth test double century against India, and he also completed his 9000 runs in Test cricket to become the ninth highest run-getter in the test. Mahela Jayawardene is a specialist batsman and excellent fielder in the cricket world.
BIOGRAPHY
Former captain of the Sri Lankan cricket team, Mahela Jayawardene was born on 27th May, 1977 in Colombo, Sri Lanka as the son of Sunila and Senerath Jayawardene. He learned to play cricket in school days. He made his Test debut with 66 runs in the record breaking Test in 1997 against India in which Sri Lanka gained a record score of 952/6. He gained Test triple-century with 374 runs in the match against South Africa. His ODI debut was against Zimbabwe in 1998. He took the charge of captain of the Srilankan team during the England tour in 2006 in the absence of Marvan Atapattu. Under his leadership, Sri Lanka, won 1-1 draw in the Test series and 5-0 win in the ODI series. Jayawardene shared a highest partnership record of 624 runs with Kumar Sangakkara in the first Test of the 2006 Test series against South Africa. Jayawardene’s batting ability helped Sri Lanka to gain many victories. In ‘2007 World Cup’, he was the second highest run-scorer of the tournament with one century and four half-centuries. He has scored centuries against all Test-playing nations. He retired from the captaincy due to lack of form and politics in the board. He is a specialist batsman with Test average of over 50 and an ODI average in the 30s. He is also playing for ‘Kings XI Punjab’ IPL team. International Cricket Council (ICC) selected him as the ‘best international captain of the year’ in 2006. His fielding is excellent and he made the most number of run-outs in ODI cricket. He is also famous for his social activities. He made a huge personal contributions to the ‘HOPE cancer project’. With the memories of his younger brother Dhishal who was died due to the brain tumour, Jayawarden became the leading campaigner of HOPE. Now, he aims to build a new 750-bed cancer unit for the country’s only dedicated cancer hospital at Maharagama. He is married to a travel consultant Christina Mallika Sirisena.
HONORS
The extra ordinary batsman Mahela Jayawardene had gained many honors in his cricket career. He was selected as ‘Wisden Cricketer of the Year’ in 2007, ‘Captain of the Year 2006′ by ICC, captain of the “World One-Day International Team of the Year 2006″, captain of the “Spirit of Cricket Award 2007″ Team, Record holder for the highest score (374 runs) by a Sri Lankan in test cricket.