E-Paper
Jayasuriya rues missed opportunities
Sanath Jayasuriya, who nearly denied India a win on Tuesday, rues a missed opportunity and it does not concern the 130 runs scored.
Sanath Jayasuriya, who very nearly denied India a victory on Tuesday, rues a missed opportunity and it does not concern the 130 runs scored in vain in that Asia Cup match.
"The one regret I have is I didn't convert the 189 into a double hundred in Sharjah in 2000," reflects Jayasuriya. "Not the 340 runs of 1997, not the knock of yesterday."
Jayasuriya could easily add quite a few more innings to this list — knocks such as 79 in Delhi during the 1996 World Cup which finished Manoj Prabhakar's career and the 199 he smashed in Colombo in 1997.
But he would rather speak about the gems he has strung against India.
"I remember my knock of 340 at this very venue. I don't regret missing out on a world record. In that Test, I batted to save the match for my team. Indians had earlier run up a 500 plus total. My priority was to put the match beyond their reach."
Jayasuriya did so in style — he made 340, put on 566 runs for the second wicket with Roshan Mahanama (225) and Sri Lanka ran up a record score of 952 for six declared.
Then came the knock three years later which has left him with a lasting sense of regret.
"I made 189 in Sharjah in 1999. I didn't start off well because we lost a few wickets early on. Then Russell Arnold and I built a stand. I could have easily got a 200 that day."
"I wanted to finish off the job. 18 runs were required from as many balls. I didn't want the match to go to the wire," he said.
But the match did go to the wire. India emerged winners by four runs because Jayasuriya had left the scene when a win could have materialised by picking up singles.
In the destruction Jayasuriya has wreaked on the Indians in his career, Venkatesh Prasad and Anil Kumble are the two bowlers who perhaps have suffered the most.
"Most of my runs against India have come off Prasad. Ironically, when I began my career I was very careful about him. He used to bowl a lot of seam-up stuff.
"With Anil you have to play a more positive game. He is the guy who bowls in right areas most of the time. Experienced guy like Aravinda (de Silva) used to work him a lot for singles. He was the master man. As for me, whenever I see the ball to be hit, I go for it. You do that in the hope it would put him off and he then might not be put the ball in right areas."
Jayasuriya's fitness is extraordinary. He keeps hitting those big shots in the deep even when well past his hundred and his running between the wickets never slackens.
"The strength in my forearm, I think I am born with it. Whenever I get to 30-40, I look for big hundred. I am all the time thinking about it."
