Five best Innings of Mahela Jayawardene
We will now have a look at the five best innings of Mahela Jayawardene. He is one the greatest batsmen of all time with over 20,000 runs in International cricket. He is one of the most reliable batsman in the Sri Lankan batting line up. He has the amazing ability to adapt to any match situation, but still he is next to unbeatable in his own backyard. He could be called a silent killer, because he gets some runs before the opponents can even realize that he is scoring. He has played many big innings and is still counting. Let us have look at his best five:
5. 119 vs England
Sri lanka was following on in the first Test match of the series at Lord’s trailing by more than 300 runs. Jayawardene led his troops from the front and scored a magnificent ton standing firm in front of the English pacemen who were charging in hard. His century guided the innings in to a safe position, and then half centuries from Vaas and Mahroof down the order almost sealed the match into a satisfactory draw for Sri Lanka.
4. 115* vs New Zealand
Being starved of runs, the struggling pair of Sangakkara and Jayasuriya were back to the hut which brought Jayawardene in to the middle in the Semi Final of the 2007 World Cup. Although opener Upul Tharanga was flying on the other end, but still the situation was crunch when he came in to bat. He started off patiently and crafted his innings beatifully. He was losing partners at regular intervals, but he himself held on and blasted off in style towards the dead end. He scored 115 not of just 109 balls and booked a birth for the final against Australia.
3. 94* vs India
Sri Lanka were staring at defeat when the scorecard read 95 for 6 in the league game of the Indian Oil Cup back in 2005, But on one end Mahela Jayawardene who came in at number 5 was standing alone who could do just nothing more than wathing his partners having their walk back to the pavallion. But, finally Upul Chandana managed to not get out. Jayawardene finding a partner took the battle on and took Sri Lanka past the target, scripting one the greatest come back in one day cricket.
2. 123 vs South Africa
When Mahela Jaywardene came out to bat against South Africa in the second Test of the series, a lot was to be done in order to chase down the total of 352. After losing Jayasuriya, Jayawardene was running out of partners but he himself held his own end intact and went on to score his hundred. After his departure for a well made 123, the match headed to an exiting finish. But his efforts had been enough that the tail enders were able to seal it for their team.
1. 374 vs South Africa
In the first Test of the series, after bowling out South Africa for a mere 169, Sri Lanka also lost their openers very early, which brought in two legends Sangakkara and Jayawardene together. Both of them displayed some classical flawless batting skills and went on to add record 624 runs together. This happened to be the best partnership in the history of Test cricket. Sangakkara missed out on his triple ton but Jayawardene kept on going and completed his triple century, but he missed out on an opportunity to score a well deserved quadruple by just 26 runs.
