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Denagamage Praboth Mahela de Silva Jayawardene (born May 27, 1977, Colombo, Sri Lanka) is the first Sri Lankan cricketer to score over 10,000 runs in both Tests and One-Day internationals. He is the former captain of the Sri Lankan cricket team and is a specialized batsman. Jayawardene made his domestic debut with Sinhalese Sports Club in 1995 and two years later, he made his Test debut and One-Day international the following season. He was a former member of Derbyshire, Kings XI Punjab, Kochi Tuskers Kerala, Delhi Daredevils, and Wayamba United but continues to play for the Sianhalese Sports Club (since 1995) and Wayamba Elevens (since 2007).

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Greatest Sporting Achievements

Mahela Jayawardene international awards include ICC Captain of the Year in 2006, Wisden Cricketer of the Year in 2007 and ICC Sprit of Cricket Award in 2013. His records were astounding – highest runs scored on a single ground Tests (2921 runs), most number of catches during for ODI (216) in 445 matches. He helped his team win the 2014 ICC World Twenty20.

Why Was He So Good?

Mahela Jayawardene plays cricket with class and pure techniques. He is best known for being a class batsman and a right-arm medium pace bowler. He is the only batsman in World Cup ODI history to ever score hundreds in both a semi final and a final of the tournament.

What You May Not Know

• Besides his cricketing skills, he is also praised for his personal contribution to the HOPE cancer project.
• His product and brand endorsements are Mobitel (Sri Lanka), DSI Holdings Ltd. and Reebok.
• Mahela Jayawardene halted his cricket career when his brother died of brain tumor at the age of sixteen. Later, he was pushed to go on and build his career by his parents and teammates.

Was he a legend?

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