Full Name

Denagamage Proboth Mahela de Silva Jayawardene

Born

May 27, 1977, Colombo

Age

46y 297d

Batting Style

Right hand Bat

Bowling Style

Right arm Medium

Playing Role

Batter

Other

Coach

A prolific, elegant and utterly classy batsman with a huge appetite for runs, and a calm yet authoritative captain - those are the qualities that best describe Mahela Jayawardene. His sheer quality as a batsman was never in doubt even when he just entered the international scene, but for Jayawardene the biggest challenge has been to justify all the early hype. With over 10,000 runs in both Tests and ODIs - and a captaincy stint that included a World Cup final appearance - it can safely be said that he has met that challenge more than adequately.

Blessed with excellent hand-eye coordination and a fine technique, Jayawardene scores his runs all around the wicket. Among his favourite strokes are the languid cover-drive - often with minimal footwork but precise placement and timing - and the wristy flick off his legs, but there are several others he plays with equal felicity. The most memorable are the cuts and dabs he plays behind the stumps, mostly off spinners, but also against quick bowling, when bat makes contact with ball delightfully late. Apart from his artistry, what stands out about his batting is his hunger for big scores, most apparent in his record 624-run partnership with Kumar Sangakkara, but also in the regularity with which he notches up Test double-hundreds. And his century against Zimbabwe in the World Twenty20 in 2010 was a shining example of traditional methods succeeding in a new format.

Jayawardene is easily one of the most elegant batsmen of his generation, but the major drawback in his career is his relative lack of success in overseas conditions. His averages in Australia, England, South Africa and New Zealand are all less than 35, but at home he averages more than 60.

In the second half of his career, Jayawardene grew into an astute captain who read the game well and wasn't afraid to take risks. Under him, Sri Lanka shed their diffident approach, winning Tests in England and New Zealand, and - in what was Jayawardene's greatest achievement as captain - reached the final of the 2007 World Cup. He quit captaincy in February 2009, but agreed to a second stint, taking over from Tillakaratne Dilshan after the tour to South Africa in 2011-12, but resigned again after a year, handing the reins to Angelo Mathews.

His limited overs batting has improved with age, and an increasing stroke repertoire has seen Jayawardene become almost as impressive an innovator at the crease, as he is a technician. An unbeaten 103 from 88 balls in the 2011 World Cup final made plain his limited overs prowess, and marked him out as a big-match player, having already made a century in the semi-final of the same tournament four years ago.
S Rajesh and ESPNcricinfo staff

Mahela Jayawardene Career Stats

Batting & Fielding

FormatMatInnsNORunsHSAveBFSR100s50s4s6sCtSt
Tests149252151181437449.842295951.4534501387612050
ODIs448418391265014433.371602078.9619771119762180
T20Is55558149310031.761121133.181917333170
FC237383241783837449.68--5180--3050
List A5465095115421163*33.67--2195--2650
T20s22221427547911629.294150132.02336634136750

Bowling

FormatMatInnsBallsRunsWktsBBIBBMAveEconSR4w5w10w
Tests1492258931062/322/3251.663.1598.1000
ODIs4482859356382/562/5670.375.6974.1000
T20Is551680---8.00-000
FC237-30011629525/72-31.323.2557.7-10
List A546-12801146243/253/2547.755.3753.3000
T20s2225759732/222/2232.337.7625.0000
Denagamage Proboth Mahela de Silva Jayawardene

Explore Statsguru Analysis

Test
ODI
T20I

Recent Matches of Mahela Jayawardene

MatchBatWktDateGroundFormat
M.C.C. vs Nepal24*--29-Jul-2018Lord'sT20
M.C.C. vs Netherlands----29-Jul-2018Lord'sT20
Diamonds vs Royals00c/0s09-Feb-2018St. MoritzOTHERT20
Diamonds vs Royals70c/0s08-Feb-2018St. MoritzOTHERT20
Kings vs Qalandars10--25-Feb-2017Dubai (DICS)T20

Videos of Mahela Jayawardene

Photos of Mahela Jayawardene

The Mumbai Indians table at the IPL 2024 auction
[L to R] Mahela Jayawardene, Charlotte Edwards and Rahul Sanghvi look pretty relaxed
Mahela Jayawardene and Chris Silverwood oversee proceedings
Mahela Jayawardene has a chat with Kusal Mendis
Kusal Mendis receives his 100th ODI cap from Mahela Jayawardene
Mahela Jayawardene looks on