8 Interesting facts about Prasanna Jayawardene

8 Interesting facts about Prasanna Jayawardene: Prasanna Jayawardene was seen as a long-term prospect for Sri Lanka at the time of his debut. In fact, Prasanna Jayawardene debuted for Sri Lanka before future legend Kumara Sangakkara. But, the emergence of Kumara Sangakkara and Romesh Kaluwirtana, to an extent, hampered his chances to play regularly for Sri Lanka.

On the occasion of his 36th birthday today, we list down 8 Interesting facts about Prasanna Jayawardene

1. Birth:

Prasanna Jayawardene was born on 8th October 1979 in Colombo.

2. England tour:

Prasanna Jayawardene made his first class debut in 1997/98. As a budding talent, Prasanna Jayawardene was selected to tour England with the national team at the raw age of 19, just a year after he made his first-class debut.

3. International debut:

Prasanna Jayawardene made his international debut at an age of 21 against Pakistan at Kandy in the year 1998.

4. Test centuries:

Prasanna Jayawardene has featured in 58 Tests for Sri Lanka mainly playing as a middle order batsman. Prasanna Jayawardene has only 4 centuries to his name, 3 of them after making his Test comeback. But, the special thing is that he has scored all his centuries in overseas conditions. Prasanna Jayawardene’s highest Test score being 154* versus India in Ahmedabad in 2009.

5. A dim hope of a comeback:

After struggling to find a regular place in the squad, Prasanna Jayawardene saw a meek chance of a possible comeback in ODIs when Prasanna Jayawardene was named in the Champions Trophy probables.

6. Revival of Test Career:

Prasanna Jayawardene was less preferred as a specialist wicket keeper batsman because of Sangakkara’s dominance. However, the selectors, in order to ease the load off Sangakkara, decided to select Jayawardene as a specialist wicket-keeper for the tour of Zimbabwe in the year 2004.

7. Improved performances:

After the 2004 Zimbabwe Test tour, his batting began to improve gradually. The selectors picked him in the Test squad yet again for the 2006-07 tour of New Zealand as a regular wicket-keeper to avoid overburdening Sangakkara and to allow him to play as a specialist top-order batsman.

Also Read – Top 10 wicket keepers with most Test centuries

8. Domestic teams:

Prasanna Jayawardene currently plays for Sebastiniates C&AC and Sinhalese club. Prasanna Jayawardene has previously played for Nondescripts Cricket Club and Colombo.