After three trips to Galle, Jayasuriya has 29 wickets at an average of 20.38 including four fifers while the latest of his five-fifers came on Thursday (July 28) and prompted Sri Lanka’s series-evening out 246-run triumph over Pakistan.
One month is quite a while in International cricket and Prabath Jayasuriya is an embodiment of that proverb. He was not even in the squad for the Australia Test before an opportunity call-up for the second Test against Australia.
After three trips in Galle, he has 29 wickets at an average of 20.38 including four fifers, and, is currently the toast of a Test side that is hoping to paw once more into the retribution.
The latest of his five-fifers came on Thursday (July 28) and prompted Sri Lanka’s series-evening out 246-run triumph over Pakistan. A naturally happy Jayasuriya considered his excursion that has changed course dramatically over the last month.
“It hasn’t been an easy journey. It was tough to come to Colombo for cricket [from Matale] because I had no family there and I was alone. Lots of people helped me. Coach Dinesh Weerasinghe helped me.
“It was tough. I had financial problems. I had to balance all that and didn’t want to put pressure on my family either. I had opportunities to play outside the country, but my motivation was to play for my country and play Tests. I gave my everything towards that goal and have some success now.”
Jayasuriya cleared the way for Sri Lanka’s success on the last day of the Pakistan series by breaking the Babar Azam and Mohammad Rizwan alliance.
Pakistan’s expectations of designing one more demonstration of resistance in the fourth innings relied on this pair and Rizwan’s excusal bearing arms to a Jayasuriya conveyance that didn’t turn effectively sealed their fate.
“With that Rizwan delivery, I came close to the wicket to bowl it. Usually, I have been bowling wide of the crease. When I pitched it wide of him, he probably figured that it was going to turn away but it didn’t,”
Jayasuriya said.
“I’ve been taking wickets from school level with my arm ball. On any pitch that turns, you can often get a lot of wickets with the ball that’s hitting the stumps. The batter is looking for the one that turns, and you’ve got a big opportunity to get him with the straighter one. You can’t bowl it all the time. You’ll get more out of the straight one if you show the batter how much it spins first, and put that doubt in their minds. Then you can use the straight one.”
Jayasuriya’s latest feat earned lavish praise from the opposition skipper Babar Azam, who praised the left-arm for his unwavering control.
“Credit to Jayasuriya for how he bowled, he was outstanding. He was patient. In Test cricket, you need patience. He’s a consistent bowler. He keeps bowling at a length and sticks to it. Even if he gets hit for a boundary, he doesn’t deviate from his length. As a batting unit, you need patience too, and we were slightly lacking in that department.
“When you’ve chased big scores in the past, you have confidence. We brought that confidence into this chase. We had belief we could do it, but Sri Lanka came well prepared and bowled according to their plans,”
he added.