5 Best innings of Sanath Jayasuriya

We will take a look at the five best innings of Sanath Jayasuriya who was probably Srilankas most explosive and phenomenal batsman.He changed the way top order batsman batted in One Day Internationals, with his devastating hitting in the first 15 overs of fielding restrictions and his complete dominance over spinners and quick bowlers alike. He carried the same style in the test arena and paved way for players like Virender Sehwag, Chris Gayle to develop attacking batting style in the longer format as well.In a career spanning more than 20 years the Matara Mauler played many great innings. Here are they:Note: These are my personal selections,Please feel free to add your favorite innings in the comments.

#5 English feel the heat of the brilliance

SriLanka met England in a knockout match in the 1996 World Cup quarterfinals in Faisalabad, Pakistan for a chance to advance into the semis. England batted first after winning the toss and made a respectable 235 for 8 in their innings with Phil DeFreitas top scoring with 67.SriLanka started with their regular opening pair of Jayasuriya and Romesh Kaluwithrana. But Jayasuriya had something else on his mind. After a slow start, he suddenly cut loose with a flurry of boundaries. He was particularly severe on the England spinner Richard Illingworth. Jayasuriya completed his 50 in just 30 balls and then made a further 32 in the next 14 balls to end up with 82 off 44 balls.This set up a comfortable chase for the rest of the SriLankan batsmen, which they achieved easily. All this was possible because of the early blinding assault by Sanath on the England bowlers in the opening 15 overs.

#4 The Singapore feast

Newly crowned world champions SriLanka traveled to Singapore to take part in the Singer Cup tri-series involving Pakistan and India.

Sanath Jayasuriya decided to celebrate in a totally explosive manner by treating Pakistanbowlers as club bowlers. Waqar Younis, Mohammad Akram, Saqlain all went for runs. Aamer Sohail went for 30 runs in one of his overs, with Sanath inflicting all the pain.Pakistan didn’t know what hit them when Jayasuriya started hitting from the start and kept the pressure on, enabling SriLanka to a total of 349.In this innings Jayasuriya not only made the fastest century at that time in 48 balls, but he also hit the maximum number of sixes, 11 in one innings. This innings established Sanath Jayasuriya as truly a force to reckon and not just a fluke in 1996 World Cup.

#3 The Sharjah Hurricane

No one can forget the Coca Cola Champions Trophy 2001 final. One, it is famous for India’s lowest ODI score of 54 all out. But the match is more famous for the hurricane like innings of 189 by Sanath Jayasuriya.

Jayasuriya single handedly took Srilanka to 299 batting first. Russell Arnold chipped in with 52. The innings is special because despite other batsman struggling to score, he kept playing his own game and smashed the Indian bowlers to every part of the Sharjah Stadium.

Well on course for the highest ODI individual score, he fell for 189, stumped by Vijay Dahiya off Ganguly’s bowling. It was simply a fascinating batting display by him as he cut and pulled the short pitched Indian bowling with ample time.

#2 The Oval magic

1. SriLanka toured England in 1998 for one Test and an ODI tri series. SriLanka won the Tri series and headed to the Kennington Oval for the one off Test.England batted first and made 445 with Graeme Hick and John Crawley making centuries. Then came an attacking innings of 213 from Sanath Jayasuriya off just 278 balls, which allowed SriLanka to make 591 and Mutthaih Muralitharan demolished England with 9/65 in the second innings.Jayasuriya’s 213 made in superfast time proved that he could play in the swinging and seaming conditions in England. He had just come to England with failures in the Pakistan series. His style of play allowed Srilanka to score at a fast run rate and gave the bowlers enough time to bowl England out again.

#1 A Colombo masterpiece

1. India toured SriLanka in 1997 in hopes of winning the Test series against the red hot favorites and the then reigning world champions.India won the toss and batted first in the first Test at R.Premadasa stadium in Colombo. With the help of centuries from Navjot Sidhu (111), Captain Sachin Tendulkar(143) and Mohammad Azharuddin (126), India put up a formidable 537/8 dec., and hoped to put pressure on SriLanka.But SriLanka and Sanath Jayasuriya had some other plans. Jayasuriya along with Roshan Mahanama batted India out of the game with a commanding 340 and 225 respectively. SriLanka scored a record 952/6 dec.Sanath Jayasuriya played an innings that is considered to be one of the best. He curbed his natural instinct to attack, but mixed aggression with sublime patience to carve out a wonderful partnership of 576 with Roshan Mahanama.This inning cemented Jayasuriya’s place in cricket as a formidable test batsman. The 1996 World Cup made him a limited overs star, this innings of 340 which was the 4th highest score at that time, made him a test star as well.