Mahela Jayawardene pulls out of Natwest T20 Blast 2017

Former Sri Lankan skipper Mahela Jayawardene has opted out of the upcoming edition of the Natwest T20 Blast in England. The veteran batsman was expected to arrive in England this month in order to prepare for the popular T20 league. He was signed by the Lancashire team this year. Jayawardene decided to pull out of the tournament due to personal reasons which he did not deem fit to elucidate at this stage of time.

The 40 year old former cricketer was in line to turn up for Lancashire in their first game of the tournament on July 7 at Old Trafford against the Durham side. As per the recent reports in the BBC, Mahela Jayawardene conceded that he is ‘very disappointed’ with the fact that he will be missing out on the T20 action in England this year. However, he refrained from commenting anything further on the same issue.

Meanwhile, the head coach of the Lancashire team Glen Chapple and the team management have started looking out for the replacements of Mahela Jayawardene. Chapple conceded that they are looking and assessing all the possible options. “We are reviewing and reassessing all options from a player perspective,” quoted coach Glen Chapple.

Recent action

Talking about the cricket action, Jayawardene had played for Somerset in the 2016 edition of the Natwest T20 Blast. He had mustered 239 runs in 10 matches. In the recent times, he had served in the capacity of the team head coach of the Mumbai Indians in the Indian Premier League (IPL). Prior to that, he had played in the Pakistan Super League (PSL) and the Bangladesh Premier League (BPL) as well.

In the world of cricket, Jayawardene needs no introduction. He is one of the finest batsmen to have ever played the game of cricket. With over 11000 runs in Test cricket, Jayawardene retired from all forms of international cricket in 2015.