World Cups are grand tournaments and very often they descry grand retirements. One such retirement came to pass after Sri Lanka’s quarterfinal defeat by South Africa on Wednesday, that of Mahela Jayawardene.
Jayawardene, who made his international debut in 1997, mostly played his cricket in an era where Sachin Tendulkar, Brian Lara and Ricky Ponting were the cynosure of all eyes and the Sri Lankan batsman was never considered in the same league.
But that shouldn’t belittle his legacy. In terms of team contribution, Jayawardene was definitely on a par with those three and not just he brought thousands of runs to international cricket, he also brought those runs with elegance.
He had so much time to play his shots and there was nothing awkward about his batting. His head was still in action and he – like the aforementioned names – could hit a delivery in two absolutely different ways. That much time he had.
Jayawardene’s technique was most suited to Test cricket as manifested by his 11,814 runs in 149 Tests at an average of 49.84, studded with 34 tons and 50 fifties. But that doesn’t mean he was a lesser batsman in limited-overs cricket: in 448 ODIs he piled up 12,650 runs with 19 centuries and 77 fifties and most interestingly he is one of the few batsmen in the world to have scored a ton in every format of the game. Those stats tell you what an extraordinary player he was.
While South Africa may have succeeded in beating his team on Wednesday, it’s highly improbable that the scars of Jayawardene’s 374 at the SSC in 2006 would be so easily healed with the win. From the current South African team, AB de Villiers, Hashim Amla and Dale Steyn featured in that demoralising Test when Jayawardene and Kumar Sangakkara added 624 for the third wicket – the highest Test stand for any wicket – to raze the Proteas to the ground.
Jayawardene also played an important role in Sri Lanka’s World T20 triumph in Bangladesh last year and if it weren’t for brilliant innings from MS Dhoni and Gautam Gambhir, Jayawardene, whose 103* off 88 balls in the 2011 World Cup final had put Sri Lanka in the driver’s seat, he would have walked off into the sunset with both major trophies in limited-overs cricket.
Success on the field never went to his head. He remained one of the most polite and humble persons off it. Sangakkara, who won’t feature for Sri Lanka in ODIs anymore but will keep on playing Tests till August, nicely summed up what Jayawardene meant to Sri Lankan cricket. “He’s been, along with Aravinda de Silva, an exceptional player for Sri Lanka. He’s made a hundred in a lot of victories, and he’s given a lot on and off the field to the country. He’s going to be sorely missed. Jayawardene could look back and really appreciate what he’s been given by the country and what he’s given it,” Sangakkara said after the match.
Players come and go but it’s not often players like Jayawardene come and adorn the game. Not just fans, the game too will miss his aesthetic approach to batting.
