Mahela Jayawardene is one of the best Sri Lankan batters of all time and he along with Kumar Sangakkara were the pillars of the batting unit for Sri Lanka for more than a decade and the amount of runs both of these legends have scored in both test cricket and ODIs is remarkable. Mahela Jayawardene is one of the most elegant and consistent players of his generation and we will talk about his incredible records below. His loss is felt deeply in Sri Lanka cricket after he announced his retirement.
Mahela Jayawardene played international cricket for 18 years from 1997-2015 and he left such a mark that he is revered not only by Sri Lankan fa fans but by all cricket lovers. He has played 149 Test Matches in his career and in those Matches he scored 11814 test runs at a very good average of 49.85. He also scored 34 Test hundreds along with 7 double Hundreds and a career highest score of 374 in test cricket. He also played 448 ODIs which is the second most in history and he got 12650 runs at an average of over 33 with 19 ODI hundreds.
Let’s look at the Top 5 Best Mahela Jayawardene batting Performances
374 vs South Africa (2006)
The fourth highest individual test score was made by Mahela Jayawardene in this test match against a very good South Africa bowling lineup and he never looked like getting out. He batted for 572 balls in his marathon innings and he scored all these runs at an incredible strike rate of 65.1 and he hit 43 fours and 1 six meaning 178 runs in boundaries and this was a masterclass on how to build an innings and make it count. It definitely is one of his very best.
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275 vs India (2009)
Mahela Jayawardene had a knack of making buf hundreds in test cricket and this time the opponents were India and he played this innings at the home ground of India against a world class bowling attack. He was very positive In this innings as he played 435 balls and he hit 27 fours and 1 six and he was scoring at a strike rate of 63.22. This was one of his finest innings in his career and it established how big or a legend he is.
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141 vs New Zealand (2005)
There were lots of other Innings in his test career where he has scored more but I wanted to put an overseas test classic of his to show our readers that was an all conditions player and thus innings was the epitome of that. In this tough pitch he made a brilliant 141 runs out of 243 balls with 19 fours and 1 six and he played at a strike rate of 58.02. This was one of his best innings as it came at a tough pitch to bat on.
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120 vs England (1999)
This was the first ODI century in the career of Mahela Jayawardene and what a brilliant knock it was and it came in the most pressure of situations. Sri Lanka were chasing a big score of 303 to win the match and none of the other Sri Lanka batters got a big Score but Mahela natred so well and in just 111 balls and only hitting 9 fours meaning he ran for over 100 runs and he won the match for Sri Lanka by 1 wicket. These sorts of Innings are remembered forever.
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144 vs England (2011)
The last innings on our list is also an ODI hundred vs England and it came at Headingley. Sri Lanka were batting first in this match and Mahela Jayawardene came out to open the Innings and he absolutely destroyed the great English bowling attack and scored an outstanding 144 from 150 balls with 14 fours and at a strike rate of 96.00 and Sri Lanka won the match by 69 runs in the end. Mahela Jayawardene was a very special player and it was a pleasure watching him bat.
Also Read: Top 10 Greatest Sri Lankan Cricketers
