Title.

Picture
Personal life

Jayasuriya was born to Dunstan and Breeda Jayasuriya in Matara and had his education at St. Servatius' College, Matara. It was there, that his cricketing talents were nourished by the Principal, G.L. Galappathy and coach Lionel Wagasinghe[6]. He has an elder brother, Chandana Jayasuriya.

His wife, Sandra De Silva is a former flight attendant of Sri Lankan Airlines. Sanath and Sandra have 3 children. Sanath Jayasuriya was also one of the judges at the Miss World contest for the year 1996, which took place at M.Chinnaswamy Stadium in Bangalore. Sanath Jayasuriya is the first cricketer to be appointed as a UN Goodwill Ambassador (by UNAIDS, Geneva) for his commitment to prevention of HIV/AIDS among young people in Sri Lanka.

He entered politics in February 2010 as the candidate for Matara District. His party is the United People's Freedom Alliance (UPFA) of President Mahinda Rajapaksa. Jayasuriya says that he intends to continue playing cricket if he is elected. Jayasuriya was declared winner in absentia with 74,352 votes in the Matara district, while playing for the Mumbai Indians in Indian Premier League.

Style and International Career

 Batting style

Sanath Jayasuriya used to hold a very unique record almost never to be achieved by a single cricket player. He held the fastest fifty (against Pakistan 17 balls) fastest 100 and fastest 150 (against England in 95 balls) in ODI cricket. Though he lost the fastest 100 to Shahid Afridi, he still holds the other two records. Jayasuriya and Sachin Tendulkar are the only players in history to have 4 ODI scores over 150 (Sachin Tendulkar has 5 scores over 150) . Along with partner Romesh Kaluwitharana, Jayasuriya revolutionized one day international batting with his aggressive tactics during the 1996 Cricket World Cup, a strategy they first tried on the preceding tour of Australia. The tactic used was to take advantage of the early fielding restrictions by smashing the opening bowlers to all parts of the cricket ground, particularly by lofting their deliveries over the mandatory infielders, rather than the established tactic of building up momentum gradually. This was a novel but potentially match-winning tactic at that time, and Sri Lanka, who had previously never made it out of the preliminary rounds, went on to win the World Cup without a single defeat. Their new gameplan is now the standard opening batting strategy in limited overs cricket for the modern era. Glenn McGrath cited Jayasuriya in his XI of toughest batsmen, noting "it is always a massive compliment to someone to say they changed the game, and his storming innings in the 1996 World Cup changed everyone's thinking about how to start innings."

Jayasuriya is known for both cuts and pulls along with his trademark shot, a lofted cut over point.

He was the key player in Sri Lanka's victory in the 1996 Cricket World Cup, where he was adjudged Man of the Tournament in recognition of his all-round contributions.

His philosophy towards batting is summarized by an all-aggression approach and over the years he has dominated almost every one day bowling combination that he has faced at one stage or another. Batsmen such as Adam Gilchrist and Virender Sehwag have similar styles. This is because of his ability to make huge match-winning contributions at rapid pace once he gets in, he holds the record for the second highest number of one day centuries and has scored the second most 150+ scores (4 scores). Sachin Tendulkar has the most 150+ score at 5.. His devastating performances have ensured that Sri Lanka have won almost 80% of the matches that he scores over 50 in. This is due to the rapid rate in which he scores his runs as well as the psychological effect he has on opposition bowling attacks[original research?].

He was named as one of the Wisden Cricketers of the Year in 1997 and served as captain of the Sri Lankan team in 38 Test matches from 1999 to 2003. He is a very useful all-rounder with a good batting average in both Test cricket and One Day Internationals, and an excellent batting strike rate in One Day Internationals.

As a left-arm orthodox spin bowler, he has a reasonable bowling average and economy rate. He regularly helps to decrease the workloads of strike bowlers Muttiah Muralitharan and Chaminda Vaas and as of August 2007 has 400 international wickets.

Jayasuriya is a skillful infielder, with a report prepared by Cricinfo in late 2005 showing that since the 1999 Cricket World Cup, he had effected the seventh highest number of run-outs in ODI cricket of any fieldsman, with the eleventh highest success rate.


Test career

Jayasuriya held the record for the highest Test score made by a Sri Lankan, 340 against India in 1997. This effort was part of a second-wicket partnership with Roshan Mahanama that set the then all-time record for any partnership in Test history, with 576 runs. Both records were surpassed in July 2006 when fellow Sri Lankan Mahela Jayawardene scored 374 as part of a 624-run partnership with Kumar Sangakkara against South Africa. On 20 September 2005, during the Second Test of the home series against Bangladesh, Jayasuriya became the first Sri Lankan to play 100 Tests, and the 33rd Test cricketer to achieve this feat.

Jayasuriya announced his intention to retire from Test cricket following the Pakistan tour of Sri Lanka in April 2006. He reversed his decision soon after, however, joining the Sri Lankan cricket team in England in May 2006. Missing the first two Tests, Jayasuriya returned in the Third Test at Trent Bridge.[9] Although his Test performances were not notable.

After scoring 78 runs on day three of the first Test against England in Kandy in 2007, he announced he was to retire from Test cricket at the end of the match. In that inning he hit six fours in one over against James Anderson.
[edit] One day international career

Jayasuriya holds the world's fourth highest ODI score, jointly with Viv Richards, which is 189 runs against India. As of February 2007 he holds the four highest individual scores by a Sri Lankan, and seven of the top nine.

He currently holds the record fastest fifty in ODIs, scored off just 17 balls. Jayasuriya was the previous record-holder for the fastest century (off 48 balls), before losing that claim to Shahid Afridi of Pakistan. Currently he has held the world record for most ODI sixes (270 in 441 ODI's). He has become the fourth batsman to score more than 10,000 runs and the second batsman to score more than 12,000, and 13,000 runs in the history of ODIs. He also is the third highest century getter in ODIs with 28 centuries. He used to hold the record of scoring most runs in an ODI over (30; he has achieved this remarkable feat twice).This record is now with South Africa's Herschelle Gibbs (36 runs in an over).Currently he is also heading the most ODI caps by an international cricketer 444, Sachin Tendulkar (India), 442 is next to him.

During the one-day Natwest series in May 2006 in England, he scored two centuries, including scoring 152 off 99 balls in the final match. In that innings, he and Upul Tharanga (109) put on 286 runs for the first wicket, a new record Jayasuriya's batting display earned him the Man of the Series award as Sri Lanka won the series 5-0.

Following the Natwest Trophy, Sri Lanka travelled to Holland for a two-match one-day series. In the first game, Jayasuriya scored 157 off 104 balls as Sri Lanka posted 443/9,[13] beating the 438/9 South Africa scored against Australia in March 2006. Sri Lanka won the match by 195 runs. On a personal note the innings was his 4th score of over 150 in ODI cricket and he is currently the only player to do so other than Sachin Tendulkar who has achieved it five times. It was also his second successive score of 150 plus, another first in ODI cricket.

He also scored 2 centuries and 2 half-centuries in the 2007 Cricket World Cup held in the West Indies.

In 2008, his one-day career was all but over when he was omitted for the ODIs in the West Indies. However, a stirring performance in the IPL -- finishing the third-highest run-getter with 514 runs -- prompted his country's sports minister to intervene in his selection for the Asia Cup. He ultimately shaped Sri Lanka's title victory with a blistering hundred under pressure.
[edit] Twenty20 career

During the 2007 ICC World Twenty20, Jayasuriya appeared to break his tradition of using Kookaburra bats by wielding a normal Reebok sponsored bat. He achieved two half centuries in the group stages against New Zealand and Kenya in this tournament. He also shares a dubious record with James Anderson for having the most expensive figures in a Twenty20 international, having been hit for 64 runs in the maximum of 4 overs.[15] After the Twenty20 World Cup, Jayasuriya played in Sri Lanka's 3-2 One Day International series defeat against England, achieving limited success and then in the 2-0 Test series defeat in Australia. In December 2007, Jayasuriya confirmed that he has signed for Warwickshire for the Twenty20 Cup.

In April 2008, he joined the Mumbai Indians to play in the Indian Premier League T20. After scoring a devastating 114 not out off just 48 balls[17] for the Mumbai Indians against Chennai, Jayasuriya regained his position in the one-day side after he had been dropped for the West Indies tour. He then followed up his century with a 17-ball 48 not out to surpass the Kolkata Knight Riders' score of 67 in just the 6th over, resulting in the biggest victory in Twenty20 history in terms of balls remaining

Batting and fielding averages

Mat Inns NO Runs HS Ave BF SR 100 50 4s 6s Ct St
Tests 110 188 14 6973 340 40.07 14 31 910 59 78 0
ODIs 444 432 18 13428 189 32.43 14719 91.22 28 68 1500 270 123 0
T20Is 30 29 3 621 88 23.88 479 129.64 0 4 75 23 4 0
First-class 263 417 33 14782 340 38.49 29 70 162 0
List A 545 530 25 15734 189 31.15 31 78 149 0
Twenty20 82 81 6 1785 114* 23.80 1272 140.33 1 9 200 84 14 0

Bowling averages

Mat Inns Balls Runs Wkts BBI BBM Ave Econ SR 4w 5w 10
Tests 110 140 8188 3366 98 5/34 9/74 34.34 2.46 83.5 6 2 0
ODIs 444 367 14838 11825 322 6/29 6/29 36.72 4.78 46.0 8 4 0
T20Is 30 23 353 438 17 3/21 3/21 25.76 7.44 20.7 0 0 0
First-class 263 15113 6719 205 5/34 32.77 2.66 73.7 2 0
List A 545 17730 14069 399 6/29 6/29 35.26 4.76 44.4 12 5 0
Twenty20 82 64 1029 1356 57 4/24 4/24 23.78 7.90 18.0 1 0 0

-->