Form delights Jayawardene

Sri Lanka batsman revelling in new role

Last updated: 8th May 2010  

Form delights Jayawardene

Jayawardene: T20 rebirth

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Sri Lanka batsman Mahela Jayawardene is enjoying the "freedom" that comes with opening the batting in Twenty20.

Jayawardene hit an unbeaten 98 off 56 balls to set up Sri Lanka's 57-run victory over West Indies in the Super Eights at the ICC World Twenty20 on Friday.

The right-hander has 279 runs in three innings at the Caribbean tournament, having also produced knocks of 81 against New Zealand and 100 against Zimbabwe in the initial group stage.

And for those who dismiss Twenty20 as a format for sloggers only, Jayawardene's essentially orthodox approach provides evidence cricket's fundamentals still hold good in the shortest version.

Challenge

"I am enjoying it," he said. "For me it was about me pushing myself with my technique and ability to see how it would suit for me to play T20 cricket.

"Batting in the middle (order) was a challenge, I adapted and I did different things but I think opening the batting has given me much more freedom to go out and express myself - guys need to find that.

"Yes, I am scoring runs, you are not sure how long you are going to be in this game so every time I go out there I want to score runs."

Jayawardene says he has tweaked rather than transformed his approach for T20.

"I haven't changed a lot but, having said that, I am playing a few more different shots than I am used to in one-day or Test cricket because of different tactics," he added.

"You tend to analyse and see what works for you and what doesn't."

Rethink

West Indies captain Chris Gayle conceded his team need a strategy rethink ahead of their match against India on Sunday.

"We'll discuss what happened and it's back to the drawing board," said Gayle, whose side finished on 138-8 in pursuit of a victory target of 196 against Sri Lanka.

"It's a must-win for both teams and it should be a good game.

"We are still confident we can win the two games and move onto the semi-final."