I was struck by Mahela Jayawardene's ability to analyze the game exceptionally well: Mickey Arthur

After retiring from the game in 2014, Mahela Jayawardene has ventured into coaching and has a good track record at it by helping Mumbai Indians and Southern Brave in the Indian Premier League (IPL) and The Hundred, respectively to win trophies. The former Sri Lanka captain’s good record in coaching has landed him a job as a consultant with the team for the first round of the ICC 2021 T20 World Cup. Sri Lanka will be playing the Qualifiers and if they win, they will advance to the Super 12 stage.

As soon as the Lankan joined the team, he convinced management and head coach  Mickey Arthur to let bat Avishka Fernando at number four in T20Is. The youngster didn’t score a fifty in 22 T20I innings but has turned a corner by scoring 83, 33, 62, and 61 runs in the team’s four warm-up matches against Oman, Bangladesh, and Papua New Guinea. Jayawardene analyzed his stats and thought he would be better off playing at number four.

He also gave some data to skipper Dasun Shanaka and Arthur to back the claim. “Avishka is very comfortable at No. 4. We had a bit of a brainstorming session, and Mahela came with a plan. He had a look at stats which he sent on to Dasun Shanaka and myself. It was pretty clear that No. 4 was a good fit for Avishka in terms of the brand of cricket we wanted to play. Avishka will bat at No. 4 tomorrow, definitely,” said head coach Mickey Arthur ahead of Sri Lanka’s tournament opener against Namibia as quoted by cricket.com.

We know after 15 balls Avishka strikes at 150: Mickey Arthur

Mickey Arthur further opined that Fernando is in good form coming in at number four and gets comfortable after 15 balls. Arthur stated that the youngster has a field spread walking in at number four, that allows him to bat with more clarity.

“With Avishka, we know that after 15 balls, he strikes at 160. It was just getting Avishka to those 15 balls. Upfront he just puts himself under a little bit of pressure in terms of dot balls. So when he’s come in at No. 4, generally the field has been back, which has allowed him to rotate the strike and got him into the innings. Which gets him to the point where once he gets in, he’s almost unstoppable. We sort of tinkered with it and tried it, and touch wood, it’s worked so far. Let’s hope that continues through the tournament.”

Arthur concluded by saying that Jayawardene’s exceptional analysis of the game is second to none. “Mahela’s contributed a massive amount. One of the reasons I was so excited to work with Mahela was because I worked with him a long time ago when he was still playing franchise cricket, and I was struck by his ability to analyze the game exceptionally well. I think his cricket brain is amazing. We’ve had some good chats and some good debates,” he added.