Warmth and an easygoing lifestyle are as synonymous with Sri Lankan cricketers as their brand of free-spirited cricket, and Mahela Jayawardene has stayed true to that throughout his career.
When a few fans were asked what Jayawardene meant to them, the response was not only overwhelming, but also a reflection of how the cricketer has managed to keep a sense of originality about him despite being hounded by flashbulbs for 17 seasons.
Jayawardene, who is in the midst of his final Test match, continues to hold a special place in the hearts of cricket lovers.
Andrew Heger, an American lawyer from Los Angeles, got a taste of Jayawardene’s hospitality when he and his fiancée spent the whole of October 2009 at the batsman’s house in Colombo.
Heger, who started supporting the Sri Lankan team after his sports-loving father told him of their triumph in the 1996 World Cup, met Jayawardene for the first time during the 2007 World Cup in the West Indies, where he and his fiancée were the team’s unofficial mascots. Later that year, when they visited Colombo to explore the option of getting married there, the families of Jayawardene and Kumar Sangakkara entertained them in the middle of a Test series, and that brought Heger closer to the cricketers.
Two years later, Jayawardene and Christina, his wife, not only hosted Heger and his fiancée but did all the legwork to plan the traditional Sri Lankan wedding. “Since we were in Colombo for a month, I thought the offer was a bit too much, but Mahela and Christina were having none of it. They said that it would be silly for us to spend money on a hotel when there was such a big house to stay in,” says Heger.
During his “staycation”, Heger watched the playoffs in American baseball leagues in the morning with Jayawardene. Sitting with the cricketing genius in front of a television showing baseball gave Heger a peek into Jayawardene’s analytical mind and his passion for all sports. Jayawardene shuttled his guests to all kind of vendors with the single-minded focus of having a perfect wedding. “He seemed to get a kick out of the whole enterprise,” recalls Heger, five years after his marriage.
Heger partied hard with Jayawardene and his friends, but saw how Jayawardene always knew the responsibilities of being a public personality. Asoka Weerasundara – an alumni of Nalanda College, where Jayawardene studied, experienced the man’s awareness during a celebration after Sri Lanka’s Test win against New Zealand in Wellington in 2006. “A newer player was not behaving properly, which only Mahela noticed. For the rest of the party, Mahela made the youngster sit with him and gave him a stern lesson on being a good ambassador for the country,” recounts Asoka.
Not long after that Jayawardene, who had been dumped as the team’s vice-captain, took charge of the side after the captain, Marvan Atapattu, left the field with injury, and guided Sri Lanka to a win from a difficult position in a One-Day International in Australia. Explaining his action to Asoka, Jayawardene had said, “Aiya (big brother), when my country needs me, irrespective of what someone has done to me in the past, I will always put my hands up.”
Those words gave Asoka, much senior to Jayawardene, a life lesson, which he passed on to his son, Rakitha Weerasundara, a New Zealand Under-19 cricketer.
Rakitha, currently playing league cricket in Manchester, trained with Jayawardene during Sri Lanka’s tour of England earlier this year, and absorbed the virtues of a sound work ethic and enjoying one’s profession. Rakitha was also with Jayawardene in his hotel room in New Zealand in 2004, when news of the tsunami that hit Sri Lanka broke. Seeing a superstar get emotional taught Rakitha of the need to stay grounded very early in life.
Jayawardene’s wholesome nature and genuine respect for another’s space has helped him connect easily with those around him. Shanaka Amarasinghe’s admiration for the cricketer grew in 2006 when Jayawardene was direct and honest, and yet polite, while pointing out that Amarasinghe was late for an appointment by 10 minutes. Brad Stevens remembers how Jayawardene was always dependable and stood for what he believed in when the two of them hosted The Square Cut, Jayawardene’s first show on a lifestyle radio station in Colombo.
Stevens is now settled in Sydney. Over in Perth, Nirma Wijayasiri had the time of her life in 2010. Wijayasiri’s room is so full of Jayawardene that her mother calls it the ‘Mahela land’, but she had to wait for ten years to meet her hero in person, for whom she had once made a video and had been in contact with over the phone.
When they met at the team hotel, Jayawardene called Wijayasiri his “No.1 fan”, mentioned the video and asked after her whereabouts in Perth, as their last interaction was when Wijayasiri was in Colombo. That Jayawardene remembered everything about her came as a pleasant surprise for Wijayasiri, who is now a scientist and aspires to lead a life as simple as her idol’s.
For Chathura Hendahewa, the interaction with Jayawardene, during the final of an inter-school cricket tournament, which he was organising on behalf of a beverage brand that Jayawardene endorses, was moving. When Jayawardene learnt that Hendahewa would be changing jobs soon, he signed the match ball for him, wished him luck and posed for a photograph.
Ranil Ruwanpathrirane was enveloped by the man’s nature when they met during the 2010 National Health Run, Ali Asgar was inspired by Jayawardene’s cricket so much that he ended up captaining his school and club teams. Ranmini Menikdiwela, a female cricketer, was fascinated when Jayawardene encouraged her to continue playing, Heshan Wijesinghe, a marketing professional, picked up the traits of adaptability, and Aaron Ray, a media professional, took home the message of being loyal and supportive of one’s teammates when the going got tough.
Jayawardene has touched many people differently, and no one has been more influenced than his fellow Nalandians. As a show of appreciation, the Nalanda College Old Boys’ Association, along with the Old Nalandians’ Silver Committee, put up an exclusive stand at the Sinhalese Sports Club Ground during his farewell Test, where the school anthem was played, an oration was read out and the school students formed the guard of honour.
Sahan Wijeratne, who was a part of the occasion, insists that the man has not changed a bit. “The respect and gratitude he has towards his family, friends and school even after being such an icon in world cricket is just remarkable,” says Wijeratne.
Heger, Wijayasiri and the Weerasundaras vouch for those words, because they know that minutes after his final Test is over, Jayawardene will reply to their text messages, thanking them for their constant support and encouragement.
