Mahela Jayawardena: Last News

"So near, yet so far." This proverb was totally justified in the case of Team Pakistan, when they failed to defeat Sri Lanka in the summit clash of Asia Cup 2022. Giving a fairly good performance in the Super 4 stage, Pakistan lost the final match by 23 runs against Sri Lanka. In the tournament, Pakistan found heroes in the form of Mohammad Nawaz, Haris Rauf, and Shadab Khan, who gave great performances with the ball. But on the other hand, Pakistan's major disappointment was skipper Babar Azam himself, who could manage only 68 runs in six matches. Babar has been receiving a lot of flak from both fans and cricket experts for his dismal show.

All eyes are on Tim David as the big-hitter gears up for his maiden series in Australia colours in a three-match T20I contest in India, starting on Tuesday. The Aaron Finch-led team is looking to cash in on his big-hitting finishing abilities when they defend their T20 World Cup title at home from next month. David, 26, made his T20I debut for Singapore in 2019 and has played 14 matches, scoring 558 runs at a strike rate of 158.52. He also impressed in patches for Mumbai Indians in IPL 2022.

The All-India Senior Selection Committee had announced the T20 World Cup squad earlier this week, and the likes of Jasprit Bumrah and Harshal Patel made their comeback from respective injuries. Ravindra Jadeja is not a part of the squad, as he got injured during the Asia Cup and then he underwent a surgery. Former Sri Lanka captain Mahela Jayawardena has said that Jadeja not being available will be a "massive loss" for Team India.

In a tournament where the toss has played a crucial role, Sri Lanka defied all odds to beat Pakistan in the Asia Cup final despite being on the losing side of the coin-flip and being put in to bat. The chasing side had won eight of the 11 matches in the tournament so far and the two of those came in India and Pakistan's wins over Hong Kong. But Sri Lanka showed great grit and determination to come out on top in the final, despite being down in the dumps at 58/5 at one point.

Mumbai Indians have had a season to forget as they are currently placed at the bottom of the Indian Premier League (IPL) points table with just three wins in 13 games. The side will play their last league stage game against Delhi Capitals on Saturday and the Rohit Sharma-led side would look to end their season on a high. Tim David has been one positive for the franchise as he has managed to score 152 runs in seven games.

Five-time Indian Premier League (IPL) champions Mumbai Indians are going through a forgettable season as they have managed to win just one out of nine games. All three departments of the game have not worked in unison for the franchise in this edition. That is one of the reasons why the Rohit Sharma-led side is at the bottom of the table with just two points. Rohit Sharma has also not been able to score big as he has registered just  155 runs in nine games at an average of 17.22. With him going through a lean patch, MI have failed to get big opening partnerships.

Former Sri Lanka captain and current Mumbai Indians head coach Mahela Jayawardena has named five players for a dream T20 XI and Jasprit Bumrah is the only Indian in the list. While talking about Bumrah, Jayawardena said that a side always needs wicket-taking options and there is no better player than Bumrah to close an innings off. The other four players in the list are -- Rashid Khan, Shaheen Shah Afridi, Jos Buttler and Mohammad Rizwan.

Former Sri Lanka great Mahela Jayawardena believes star all-rounder Ben Stokes will be a "brilliant" Test captain for England if he improves his performances in red-ball cricket. Stokes was announced as England's new Test skipper with the upcoming home series' against New Zealand and India in June. "I think he (Stokes) will be a brilliant captain. He has been around for a while and shown again and again that he is a brilliant competitor and he is a different beast altogether when he is on the field. England haven't seen an all-rounder captaining their Test team for a long time and I think he is the ideal candidate. Having his type of character (as captain) might create a culture which they have had with white-ball cricket recently, but now need to find that same kind of culture with red-ball cricket," Mahela Jayawardena said on The ICC Review.