Jayawardene ready to put his best foot forward
Sri Lanka veteran batsman refuses to read too much into recent poor form
Sri Lanka’s star batsman Mahela Jayawardene has hit out at criticism that he is in decline as a batsman.
Following his twin failures in the Abu Dhabi Test match and the fact that he has not scored a half- century in his last 14 innings, some critics have even pointed out that, at the age of 36, Jayawardene’s reflexes and hand- eye coordination are beginning to wane.
After a hard workout prior to the second Test match against Pakistan, which starts tomor- row at the Dubai International Stadium, Jayawardene was asked about his failure in the first Test and whether the long break had an effect on his form.
He replied: “It’s difficult to say. I trained hard but, in a Test match, you can have a great match or a poor one. It’s difficult to pinpoint why exactly things didn’t go right. I got two good balls and I couldn’t avoid getting out to them. I’m not thinking too much about what’s been, but I prepared well for that match and I’m preparing for the next one.”
Is there any extra pressure on him, though? Jayawardene said: “There is no extra pressure. When you play for Sri Lanka, there is pressure to do well in every match. When you look at how many matches I’ve played, there’s nothing special about my situation now.”
Jayawardene got out to Pakistan’s new pace sensation Bilawal Bhatti in both innings.
Commenting on the dismissals, Jayawardene said: “Bhatti is a new bowler, so I hadn’t played against him before. He’s a good bowler and my teammates had told me that he bowled well in the ODI series as well. When you face a bowler for the first time, there is always a small difference [ to what you expect].
Short- term goals
“He bowled in really good areas when I went to bat. That’s also a factor. So now I have to see how I can face him in the next match, as well as how to face the remaining bowlers in the Pakistan team, who are all good. I had watched how Bhatti bowls, but watching him and playing him are very different things.”
Jayawardene does not believe in setting long- term targets. “This was the first Test I played in 12 months. The last one was against Australia. This year, there are only five or six Tests remaining. I’ve said before that I don’t have a plan for the long term. I have short- term goals about how I should play and how I can contribute to the team. When you get to this stage in your cricketing career, it’s not easy to have long- term targets.”
Sri Lanka, meanwhile, have called up opener Kaushal Perera yesterday after experienced batsman Lahiru Thirimanne was ruled out of the remainder of the series against Pakistan.
Thirimanne, 24, suffered an ankle injury in the first of five One- Day Internationals. He was retained in the squad in the hope that he would get fit in time for the Test series.