Former Sri Lanka captain Mahela Jayawardene has joined the Adelaide Strikers for the fifth edition of Big Bash League on a one-year deal as the side's second international signing. Jayawardene replaces Kieron Pollard after the West Indies international was last month ruled out of the competition, when he suffered a knee injury in South Africa's Ram Slam T20 Challenge.
He has been roped in to arrest the downslide in Sri Lankan cricket and Asanka Gurusinha's assessment of the fall is quite simple -- not grooming anyone to fill in Mahela Jayawardene and Kumar Sangakkara's shoes.
In contrast to 'Made for T20' players wielding heavy wood, the Sri Lankan batsman applies traditional skills in the modern context but, while clearly proud of his style, he refuses to criticise more unorthodox batsmen.
Mahela Jayawardene, batting with three stitches in his left hand, ignored the pain to complete his 32nd Test hundred and put Sri Lanka firmly in the driving seat in the second Test against Pakistan in Dubai on Thursday.
'I was already on that flight, mentally. But when I wasn't selected, it hit me hard. I couldn't understand what went wrong.'
Here's a rundown on the leading run-getters and the ones with best strike rates in the T20 showpiece.
A rampant Mumbai Indians will present a stern test of character for the rattled Punjab Kings in a virtual semi-final when the two teams face-off in Qualifier 2 of the Indian Premier League in Ahmedabad on Sunday.
- Mahela Jayawardene struck his seventh double hundred and Kithuruwan Vithanage reached his maiden century as Sri Lanka toyed with Bangladesh's toothless attack before declaring their first innings on a mammoth 730 for six in Dhaka on Wednesday.
Mahela Jayawardene and Kumar Sangakkara might not have got a fairytale ending in their final ODI match of their glorious careers but the veterans smiled through the disappointment as they fondly recounted their respective journeys.
The Pandya brothers have come a long way. There was a time when they survived on just Maggi noodles for three years while chasing their dream of becoming top cricketers. Today, Hardik's net worth exceeds 100 crores while Krunal's is estimated to be around 80 crores.
Virat Kohli is the highest run-scorer in the history of T20 World Cups, surpassing former Sri Lanka captain Mahela Jayawardene's total of 1016 runs.
'I would put my money on him at least for a little while to hold to all three but there are some good quality players around who will keep pushing him.'
While MI's win will assure them of a place in the play-offs, Delhi Capitals need to win both their remaining games to advance.
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Thisara Perera and Jeevan Mendis combined for a 58-run partnership to give Sri Lanka a nervous four-wicket victory over Afghanistan in their World Cup Pool A match at University Oval in Dunedin on Sunday.
Star allrounder Hardik Pandya was kept out of the IPL game against Chennai Super Kings as a precautionary measure as he had a little niggle, said Mumbai Indians head coach Mahela Jayawardene.
'A stage that seems big -- but it's (the) one that's familiar -- so we banked on him being comfortable with his surroundings and he certainly looked all that. It was an impressive debut.'
Tilak Verma, who has two T20I hundreds for India and is one of the pillars of the core MI set-up, had scored just 25 off 23 balls, inclusive of two boundaries, when Mitchell Santner, with a career IPL strike-rate of 106, was sent in.
Sri Lanka's Tillakaratne Dilshan and Mahela Jayawardene have been officially reprimanded for excessive appealing during their Champions Trophy match against New Zealand in Birmingham.
Kohli becomes leading run-getter in T20 World Cup history
Former Sri Lanka captain Mahela Jayawardene, on Sunday, said he felt disillusioned with the state of cricket in the country and thus declined an offer to play a role in the team's World Cup campaign.
The mighty Mumbai Indians have been the team to beat in IPL history and the Sri Lankan great says they have worked hard on building a "culture of success".
Mumbai Indians players finally got a chance to mingle with each other off the field as the franchise had its first team bonding session in Abu Dhabi on Monday.
Sri Lankan batting stalwart Mahela Jayawardene will retire from Twenty20 Internationals after the conclusion of the ongoing T20 World Cup in Bangladesh.
'You need a 400-run season from Rohit Sharma. 15s and 20s converted into 40s and 60s.'
The 12-day strength and conditioning pre-season camp, ahead of Mumbai Indians's first game on March 27, is being held at their in-house training facility at the Reliance Jio Stadium in Navi Mumbai.
Boucher, whose last assignment with the South African team was the ICC T20 World Cup in Australia where the Proteas exited at the Super 12 stage, said the new role had come with a lot of responsibility.
Mumbai Indians coach Mahela Jayawardene said he has seen enough T20 cricket not to be surprised by the manner in which his side pulled off a sensational four-wicket victory in an IPL game against Kolkata Knight Riders in Mumbai.
Rajneesh Gupta highlights important numbers featuring the Sri Lankan team from World Cups.
'Whether he will bowl in the IPL or not we will look on a daily basis. I feel at the moment if we push him too hard, he might struggle.'
Sri Lanka's former Sports Minister Mahindananda Aluthgamage alleged that his country "sold" the 2011 World Cup final to India -- a claim ridiculed by former captain Mahela Jayawardene, who demanded evidence for it.
Jayawardene credited MI and New Zealand's bowling coach Shane Bond for perfectly planning and executing India's downfall in the last match.
Anil Kumble was re-appointed as Chairman of the ICC Cricket Committee for a three-year term.
Kauthankar and Bakle's partnership is second only to 624 runs for the third wicket, achieved by Sri Lankans Kumar Sangakkara and Mahela Jayawardene during a Test match against South Africa in Colombo, SSC in July 2006.
West Indies captain Shivnaraine Chanderpual won the toss and elected to bat against Sri Lanka
The proposal, which has been floated for the 2023-2031 cycle, has not gone down well with the greats of the game, including Kohli, Sachin Tendulkar and Ricky Ponting, opposing the idea.
Mumbai Indians, the five-time IPL champions, have a robust scouting system that unearths hidden gems from across the country.
Mumbai are likely to end up last on the points table even if they manage to win their last game
'All three games we were in it but we were not able to finish it off'
''As a neighbour and a big brother of our country, India has always helped us.'
Former batsman Mahela Jayawardene feels the fear of failure is impeding the growth of the Sri Lankan cricket team, which is currently being outplayed by India.
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