Denagamage Praboth Mahela de Silva Jayawardene (දෙනගමගේ ප්රබෝත් මහේල ද සිල්වා ජයවර්ධන; born 27 May 1977) is a Sri Lankan former professional cricketer and captain of the Sri Lankan national cricket team.
He is the current consultant coach of the Sri Lankan national team and the head coach of the Indian Premier League franchise Mumbai Indians.
He is widely regarded as one of the greatest batsmen from Sri Lankan cricket.
1994
Jayawardene captained Nalanda College Colombo first XI cricket team in 1994.
He developed his talents through the school cricket team, eventually becoming captain.
He was runner-up for the best schoolboy cricketer award during the 1994 cricketing season.
1995
Domestically he has played for Sinhalese Sports Club since 1995.
1997
He made his Test cricket debut in August 1997 and his One Day International (ODI) debut the following season in January 1998.
Mahela Jayawardene is the 69th Sri Lanka Test Cap, having made his debut against India at Colombo in 1997.
Jayawardene made his Test debut in the record breaking Test in 1997 against India at R.P.S., Colombo.
Jayawardene added 66 to Sri Lanka's first innings score of 952/6, the highest Test score ever.
He was at the crease when the previous highest Test score was surpassed.
Early in his career he scored 167 against New Zealand and 242 against India.
1998
Jayawardene's One Day International debut was against Zimbabwe at Premadasa in January 1998.
2004
He made his Twenty20 debut on 17 August 2004, for Sinhalese Sports Club in the 2004 SLC Twenty20 Tournament.
2005
He is also known for his fielding skills in the inner ring, with a report prepared by ESPNcricinfo in late 2005 showing that since the 1999 Cricket World Cup, he had effected the most run-outs in ODI cricket of any fielder, with the fifth highest run-out/match ratio in ODI's.
2006
In 2006 along with his teammate Kumar Sangakkara, Jayawardene made the highest ever partnership in First-class cricket, scoring 624 runs for the third wicket in the first test match of Sri Lanka's home series against South Africa.
He appeared in 652 international matches representing Sri Lanka in a career spanning for about 18 years.
During his international career, he also formed a friendship and healthy rivalry with Sangakkara.
Mahela is the first player in the history of Sri Lankan cricket to score over 10,000 Test runs and is also the second Sri Lankan player to score more than 10,000 runs in ODIs after Sanath Jayasuriya.
Mahela Jayawardene currently serves as the Chairman of Sri Lanka National Sports Council.
Jayawardene's highest test score, 374 against South Africa, is the highest score by a right-handed batsman in the history of Test cricket.
Along with teammate Sangakkara, he has the most career partnership runs for the 3rd wicket in Tests, scoring 5890 runs surpassing the 5826 run record of Rahul Dravid and Sachin Tendulkar.
In 2006, Jayawardene was named by the International Cricket Council as the best International captain of the year and was nominated in 2007 as the best Test cricket player of the year.
2008
During the time of his captaincy Jayawardene led his national team to be the winners of the 2008 Asia Cup.
He was signed to play as an overseas player for Derbyshire for the first half of the 2008 English cricket season.
However, his commitments to Sri Lanka and involvement in the Indian Premier League prevented him from playing any part in the 2008 county season.
2010
Jayawardene was the first Sri Lankan in the history of the ICC Men's T20 World Cup to score a century which he did with his 100 runs against Zimbabwe in the 2010 tournament.
2014
Jayawardene was a key member of the team that won the 2014 ICC World Twenty20 and was part of the team that made to the final of 2007 Cricket World Cup, 2011 Cricket World Cup, 2009 ICC World Twenty20 and 2012 ICC World Twenty20.
2015
He has been a vocal critic of Sri Lanka Cricket over the years especially after 2015 where the national side has suffered a significant decline.
In November 2021, he was inducted to the ICC Cricket Hall of Fame.
He became only the third Sri Lankan to be inducted to the ICC Cricket Hall of Fame after Muttiah Muralitharan and Kumar Sangakkara.
Jayawardene was educated at Nalanda College Colombo.
At an early age Mahela's father, Senerath Jayawardene, introduced him to the Lionel Coaching Clinic run by Nondescripts Cricket Club in Cinnamon Gardens.
It was there that he learned to play cricket.
He was a fast bowler initially during his school days and later transformed as a top order batsman.
2016
Jayawardene also worked as an international TV commentator in the first test at Headingley on 19 May 2016 between England and Sri Lanka.
Mahela Jayawardene holds the unique record of being the only player as of now to have scored a hundred in both a World Cup final and a World Cup semi-final.
He is also the only player to have scored a century in a World Cup final in a losing cause.
He also serves as a board member in several unlisted public limited companies in Sri Lanka.
