Mahela Jayawardene

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Mahela Jayawardene

Personal information
Full name	Denagamage Proboth Mahila de Silva Jayawardene
Born	27 May 1977 (1977-05-27) (age 33) Sri Lanka
Nickname	Mayya
Height	5 ft 7 in (1.70 m)
Batting style	Right-hand
Bowling style	Right-arm medium
Role	Batsman
Domestic team information
Years	Team
1995–	Sinhalese Sports Club
2008	Derbyshire
2008–2011	Kings XI Punjab
2011 - present	Kochi IPL Team
Career statistics
Competition	Tests	ODI	FC	List A
Matches	113	326	195	401
Runs scored	9,408	9,003	15,177	10,787
Batting average	54.06	32.73	52.69	32.29
100s/50s	28/36	12/55	45/64	12/67
Top score	374	128	374	128
Balls bowled	547	582	2,959	1,239
Wickets	6	7	52	23
Bowling average	48.66	79.71	30.98	47.56
5 wickets in innings	0	0	1	0
10 wickets in match	0	0	0	0
Best bowling	2/32	2/56	5/72	3/25
Catches/stumpings	161/–	168/–	256/–	202/–
Source: CricketArchive, 14 October 2010

Denagamage Proboth Mahela de Silva Jayawardene, known as Mahela Jayawardene (born 27 May 1977), is the former captain of the Sri Lankan cricket team. He is a specialist batsman who has a Test average of over 50, and an ODI average in the 30s. Despite his relatively low ODI average, Jayawardene is considered to be one of the best batsmen produced by Sri Lanka and is generally held in high regard as a legend of the modern game along with team-mate Kumar Sangakkara. In 2006, he was named by the International Cricket Council as the best international captain of the year and he was nominated in 2007 as the best Test cricket player of the year. He is also known for his fielding skills in the inner ring, with a report prepared by Cricinfo in late 2005 showing that since the 1999 Cricket World Cup, he had effected the most number of run-outs in ODI cricket of any fieldsman, with the fifth highest run-out/match ratio in ODI's.^[1] Statistics also reveal that c Jayawardene b Muralitharan is the most common bowler-fielder combination in the history of Test cricket.

Jayawardene led Sri Lanka to Pakistan for a Test series in March – April 2009. The series was conducted after the Indian team withdrew from playing in Pakistan, following the November 2008 Mumbai attacks. The first Test ended in a draw. Even though he scored a double century in the first Test, Jayawardene was to resign from captaincy after the second Test in the series. Sri Lanka was in a good position in the Test with Thilan Samaraweera hitting his second successive double hundred of the series and Tillakaratne Dilshan scoring a century. On their way to the Gaddafi Stadium for the third day's play, the bus that carried the Sri Lankan players was fired at by 12 masked gunmen. Jayawardene, along with six other Sri Lankan cricketers sustained injuries. Six policemen that guarded the bus and two civilians were killed in the attack.^[2] He currently plays for the Kochi IPL Team ^[3]