Mahela Jayawadene hits a classy unbeaten 110 off 59 balls to salvage team’s pride; Sangakkara-led side records first win after four consecutive losses
He wasn’t even going to play! Kings XI Punjab opener Shaun Marsh, it was discovered on Sunday morning, was injured. So Mahela Jayawardene had to pad up, that too for the opener’s slot against Kolkata Knight Riders at the Eden on Sunday.
Well, that would have hardly brought any crease in rival captain
Sourav Ganguly’s forehead. After all, Jayawardene’s scores so far in this edition of the IPL were: 0, 26, 3, 3, 23, 16 and 20. No wonder he was dropped for KXIP’s last match against Royal Challengers Bangalore in Mohali.
But fate had a different script in mind. In one of the most mature innings so far by any batsmen in IPL 3, Jayawardene guided the bruised, battered and beleaguered Punjab to a moral boosting eight-wicket victory in front of a packed Sunday crowd at the Eden.
Little would have Ganguly thought, after Knight Riders signed off with a confident 200 for three in their allotted quota thanks to a brute of an innings by Chris Gayle, that he would end up on the losing side.
But this was no ordinary knock. Jayawardene’s unbeaten 110 was an innings where he didn’t put even a foot wrong. Ganguly, ever the wily captain, tried every trick in the book but the Sri Lankan stitched two vital partnerships en route to sealing what was in the end a very comfortable win. KXIP reached the target in 18.2 overs.
In the process, he also scored the fourth century this IPL after Murali Vijay, David Warner and Yusuf Pathan.
What Jayawardene ensured was that KXIP would still be in there with an outside chance of making the last four, miracle though it may warrant.
And it also ensured that Shah Rukh Khan’s boys would remain on
fifth spot in IPL table, despite having same number of points but an inferior run rate compared to Chennai Super Kings.
Analysing Jayawardene’s innings is difficult, simply because he never exploded like Gayle did earlier. The former West Indies captain, one of KKR’s foreign recruits, started serenely but lit up Eden with his pyrotechnics. He slammed 88 (42 balls) with a mind-boggling eight sixes and six fours. In the 13th over of KKR’s innings, he hit a hapless Ravi Bopara for four consecutive sixes with about as much emotion as taking his pet dog for an evening walk.
Once Gayle departed, it was difficult to see anyone carrying the same tempo. Still, 200 had never been scored here before at the Eden and Ganguly had reasons to feel reasonably confident.
At the post-match news conference, the KKR captain made an observation that Jayawardene was never in a hurry because he never stopped scoring boundaries. That, in a nutshell was the crux. He toyed with the bowling and except one reverse sweep, played all copybook shots.
It will be unfair not to mention the contribution of his two teammates. Sangakkara knew his long-time partner is in the middle of something special and just played the second fiddle to perfection.
And Yuvraj Singh, still looking hurt and angry, banished each of his demons with a 16-ball 33 laced with three sixes. If KXIP can play this way, they will do some serious damage.
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