5 most naturally gifted batsmen of the game

4. Mahela Jayawardene

Playing in the era of Tendulkars and Laras is itself a tough task. And it only gets tougher if you also have stars like Sanath Jayasuriya and Kumar Sangakkara as your team-mates. Yet it is nice to see a player like Mahela Jayawardene who always held his own. It was mostly due to the poise he brought to the 22 yards.

A batting virtuoso of the highest order Mahela had all the shots in his repertoire. But what made him one of the finest in the game was his ability to play those strokes with a touch of class. Mainly his cover drives and wristy flicks are more like Marvel films as one will never get bored of seeing them. Even his deft touches behind the stumps had a zing about them.

In other words, Jayawardene hardly scored ugly runs and it’s quite an achievement for an individual who has accumulated over 25000 runs in national colours. Moreover, with a win rate of 55 across formats, he is also one of the most successful captains the game has seen. Despite all these the first words which will come to people’s minds while thinking about Mahela Jayawardene is “Elegance Personified” and it is appropriate in every sense.