Kolkata: Kings XI Punjab's Mahela Jayawardene made the most of an opportunity that came his way thanks to an injury to Shaun Marsh. The Sri Lankan grabbed his chance with both hands against Kolkata Knight Riders by helping his side romp home in style thanks to an inspired century.
Excerpts:
On this innings being his best so far in the IPL: Yeah, definitely - the best knock in the IPL. I have had a couple of half-centuries, but when you get a hundred it is something special, especially on a winning team. There is no point in getting big scores if you are losing, but we have struggled. We have fought hard and showed a lot of character today, so [I’m] quite happy with it.
On coming into the team at the last moment as Shaun Marsh was injured: Yeah, I mean, a lot of things were written, but the only way we could show the unity in the team was with the bat and the ball on the field, so we did that. Marsh was unfortunate, he has been batting really well, he pulled up with a sore back after the warm-up and I was asked to play. Before we went to the field I said to (coach) Tom (Moody) [he should] think about me opening the batting, because obviously Ravi (Bopara) batted in the middle [order] in the last game, he batted really well and I said [to] think about just a straight swap. Obviously he and Sanga (captain Kumar Sangakkara) had a chat and decided for me to go up the order. I was quite happy to do that because I thought if I go up there and spend a bit more time [in the middle] I could get into my rhythm and get a good knock.
On what he had for lunch to play the way that he did: Well, I didn’t have any lunch (laughs), [I] had a late breakfast. I think in situations like this everyone has to get something out of their hat, try and work really hard. We were really close in a couple of the games in this tournament [but] unfortunately we were not finishing games off with the bat or with the ball, so it was crucial for us to try and get it going. It’s all about applying yourself, keeping it going for long periods of time. I have always said we made a few mistakes in the last games and it has cost us matches. It is really difficult to come back into a Twenty20 game [if you make mistakes] because it’s so short. So I think that with the ball, even though we didn’t do that well, you can see that the wicket is a brilliant wicket and on a fast outfield we managed to finish the game off, so I am quite happy.
On whether he agrees that Twenty20 cricket is all about power hitting considering his and Gayle’s (88 off 42 balls) innings: I was hitting some big sixes (laughs). Actually Chris (Gayle) is obviously something special, you need different calibre, different guys to come to the party at different times. I think that up the order Sachin (Tendulkar), Jacques (Kallis) and a few others have shown that if you bat for long periods and you must build a good innings in tough situations, then a few other guys bat around them, a few big hitters. So, I mean, you need everybody, cricket is something [where you need to] keep evolving and keep innovating, you need to keep challenging yourself as cricketers - that’s the most important thing. It’s brilliant, that’s why we get up every day in the morning so that we can come and do something like this.
On whether the IPL and Twenty20 cricket in general is coming of age: Well you have to sit back and analyse. I think we played on a really good wicket [here but] there were some tracks [that were] slow, flat wickets where even 130-140 was defendable. So different surfaces will give you different challenges, you just need to assess the conditions, assess the situations and play for it. But people are challenging themselves every day, which is the beauty of the game.
On what was going on his mind when he came out to bat: Well, I wanted to just take one over at a time - it was crucial that we had a good start. My main focus was to get through those six overs, we had quite a few boundaries, we didn’t take too much risk, we knew the wicket was playing well. It was quite important for us to build partnerships and that’s what I spoke [about] to (Manvinder) Bisla as well. Then when Kumar came in, he was very aggressive and took the pressure completely away from me. So I was a bit settled in that situation, I didn’t have to take any risk. I just had to hit that odd boundary in my zone and just bat through, it was important and that was my goal today. I just got into different roles today with the bat, when Yuvi (Yuvraj Singh) came out I just had to admire from the other end because I knew he was going to hit a few things, he is getting back into good form which is great, so hopefully we can finish a good season with everybody playing well.
On his reaction after the century and whether he got any SMS or phone call from Preity Zinta: I have quite a few SMS’s, I haven’t checked. The reaction was just, we know we are a very good team and everyone’s working really hard. It’s frustrating that we haven’t been able to play to our potential and finish games off. We had a couple of very good IPL seasons and we were very consistent and unfortunately we had a bad start this time and the momentum just didn’t go with us. So it was purely a team effort and I am very supportive of the rest of the guys, everyone’s pulling together to enjoy this so we just need to enjoy this moment, have a good night out and then concentrate on the next game.
On the fact that they had nothing to lose and whether Yuvraj Singh having a point to prove helped them: I don’t think we had nothing to lose, I think we had everything to lose because we, as cricketers, play for pride. We don’t want to lose matches out there. We were very disappointed with our performances and we take responsibility for that and I think everyone had lots to lose coming into the game and lots to lose going into any other game. So I think we play with that kind of attitude every day, we come and try and give the best we could. We hate losing matches - simple as that - so as long as we have that kind of commitment, sometimes you win, you lose. As long as we know we have given everything out there, and not taken anything back, we will be very happy.
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