Mahela Jayawardene : Grace and Elegance Personified

Mahela Jayawardene : Grace and Elegance Personified: One of the most stylish and elegant batters of our generation Dnagamage Praboth Mahela De Silva Jayawardene the Sri Lankan legend turns 38 today. He retired from all forms of cricket in March 2015 but the numerous memories that he has left us with, will be cherished by cricket fans dissipated all over the globe. Mahela was a child prodigy in cricket. He captained Nalanda College Colombo first XI cricket team in 1994. He made his debut against India in Colombo, 1997 and impressed with a 66 with his team going on to score 952 runs the highest test team total ever. Thus he was part of history in his very first match and it was only a beginning of an illustrious career.

Jayawardene first captained the Sri Lanka side in 2006 against England in the absence of Marvan Attapattu. In the first test match of the 2006 test series against South Africa he shared 624 runs stand with his counterpart Kumar Sangakkara. He along with Sanga formed one of the most dreaded duos in world cricket. The astounding partnership shattered all records. Jayawardene became the first Sri Lankan captain to strike a triple century making 374 off 572 deliveries with 43 fours and a six which is the highest test score by a right hander ever in test history.

Owing to his incredible performances he was picked as the Wisden cricketer of the year in 2007. The Elegant right-hander made a name for himself as a big match player as he came true to the saying ‘cometh the hour cometh the man’. And he is also the only cricketer in history to score tons in both the semi finals and final of a world cup 2007 world cup semi-finals and WC 2011 final. He has test centuries against all Test playing nation’s an incredible feat that speaks volumes of his extraordinary flair with the bat.

He is also a world cup winner his team triumphed in the 2014 World T20 prevailing over India in the final. Mahela has 54 international tons and is one of the very few to have reached the milestone in all forms of the game. He is a little man with a soft spoken demeanor and is a humble humanbeing despite all the magnificent things he has achieved in the sport. Mahela Jayawardene is an extraordinary cricketer who has fan following all over the world for his effortless style of play and his technical precision. With his placement, the deft touches and impeccable timing he is one of the most exciting cricketers to watch and learn from. Legends never retire they continue to stay alive in our hearts. And Mahela is a classic example for that.