Jayawardene: It was one of my best knocks
Rex Clementine - 22 August 2001
Sri Lankan middle order batsman Mahela Jayawardene rated his hundred
against India today very highly, "It was one of my best hundreds. I
have got six of them now. And I think that was one of my best knocks.
It's very easy when you middle the ball but today it was completely
different and required sheer hard work. So I would call this as one of
the best hundreds, " said the soft spoken right-handed batsman on his
knock today.
Speaking about the Kandy wicket, which has generally helped fast
bowlers the former Sri Lankan vice captain said, "The wicket was doing
a bit in the morning. I was not at all confident at the start. I was
edging the ball and fortunately I had some luck and things worked out
well for us,"
However after the hundred he just added four more runs and made his
way back to the pavilion, "Very disappointed. Very disappointed about
the way I got out. I was really set and seeing the ball well and with
Vaas set we should have ended up with a big score."
But he also said, "There is always chance of you getting out in that
wicket. There is assistance for fast bowlers. They bend their backs
and you have to really work hard."
Despite Sri Lanka losing wickets regularly Jayawardene went for his
shots and looked positive. During his innings he hit 17 boundaries.
"My foot work was not the best today, but it improved and I decided to
go for shots since I thought we need at least 250 in the middle
batting first in a Test Match. So I went for the shots and the runs
flowed"
Jayawardene however received a lot of support from the Sri Lankan
lower middle order with Chaminda Vaas and Suresh Perera, "Suresh was
confident and Vaas has improved a lot. It was good hard work and a
collective effort. We are happy about the way the things went."
Speaking about the final score, the batsman said, "It's a good score.
But it's a five-day game. You don't know what will happen but we
should have put on some more runs, especially with me being well set."
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