by Rex Clementine
Days after Sri Lanka captain Mahela Jayawardene went past Aravinda de Silva’s Test career aggregate of 6361 runs, the former batting great said that it’s only the beginning of the road for greatness for the young Sri Lanka captain.
"The very first time I saw Mahela, I told myself that this guy is someone special and I sort of tried to take him under my wing. There was no doubt that he was special and he has done extremely well. I am really happy for him. It’s just the beginning of Mahela Jayawardene. Mark my words, records will keep coming," de Silva who retired in 2003 with 6361 runs as the country’s highest run scorer in both forms of the game, told ‘The Island’.
"The only advice I can give him is to not to look back and put pressure on himself. If he doesn’t get injured, the sky is the limit," de Silva added.
"The knowledge he has about the game compared to the others is great. That’s why I pushed him for the vice-captain’s role when I was a selector," de Silva said.
Since taking over the captaincy from Marvan Atapattu in March 2006, Jayawardene has been in superb form with a Test hundred at Lord’s, a career best 374 against South Africa at the SSC and a match winning hundred in the World Cup semi-final being the highlights.
In the first Test against Bangladesh, Jayawardene completed his 17th Test hundred and is just three short of the Sri Lanka record of 20 centuries held by Aravinda de Silva
Days after Sri Lanka captain Mahela Jayawardene went past Aravinda de Silva’s Test career aggregate of 6361 runs, the former batting great said that it’s only the beginning of the road for greatness for the young Sri Lanka captain.
"The very first time I saw Mahela, I told myself that this guy is someone special and I sort of tried to take him under my wing. There was no doubt that he was special and he has done extremely well. I am really happy for him. It’s just the beginning of Mahela Jayawardene. Mark my words, records will keep coming," de Silva who retired in 2003 with 6361 runs as the country’s highest run scorer in both forms of the game, told ‘The Island’.
"The only advice I can give him is to not to look back and put pressure on himself. If he doesn’t get injured, the sky is the limit," de Silva added.
"The knowledge he has about the game compared to the others is great. That’s why I pushed him for the vice-captain’s role when I was a selector," de Silva said.
Since taking over the captaincy from Marvan Atapattu in March 2006, Jayawardene has been in superb form with a Test hundred at Lord’s, a career best 374 against South Africa at the SSC and a match winning hundred in the World Cup semi-final being the highlights.
In the first Test against Bangladesh, Jayawardene completed his 17th Test hundred and is just three short of the Sri Lanka record of 20 centuries held by Aravinda de Silva
