Exclusive Interview with Mahela Jayawardena

15th May 2008

We are talking to Mahela Jayawardena, Sri Lankan captain and now with the Kings XI Punjab. Mahela, how has the entire tournament been so far?

It has been a very exciting tournament. Obviously, I think the first couple of games we had been tested, but we have worked really hard to come back strongly. I think it is a credit to the whole team, a lot of character being shown. It is not easy to win five games in a row. I think we have been doing a lot of good things but certainly we still can improve as a team and that is what we are targeting. We have been trying to push ourselves and making sure we try to play better cricket because each and every game is very tough for us. So definitely enjoying - it is a young team, a lot of energy in the team, it is a great challenge and definitely enjoying it.

The first two games did not go your way. Then you really pulled your act together with five wins in a row. What went right in the dressing room?

Well the first two games, even though we lost, I thought we played really good cricket. We chased Chennai's 230 right down till the end, even the game in Rajasthan was a very closely fought game. So we took a lot of positives out of those two games and analyzed where we went wrong and played some smart cricket. Along the way, I think all those little-little things contributed to where we are right now. But we can't just take it easy from here on, we have to work much harder than we have been working to make sure that we win every game, majority of the games and when we come to the latter part of the tournament we are there in the top four so that we can play in the semi-finals.

In a dressing room with Shaun Marsh, Luke Pomersbach, Yuvraj Singh, Kumar Sangakkara and yourself and a lot of Indian guys who look up to you for tips, how did you guys gel in a matter of a couple of weeks to look like one compact unit out there?

Well, I think it is all about communicating well and trying to make sure that we get the right combinations, giving information about different players and trying to adjust to the conditions, adjust to what our strengths are in the team. The guys are up for the challenge, they like to learn quickly and they have been playing some really good cricket, so what we are trying to do is help each other out in tough situations and make sure we carry the team all together. So it is a lot of hard work. It hasn't been easy but the guys are enjoying that.

You have adjusted your batting style from Test to ODI to T20. How has the transition been?

It is all about adapting to different conditions, different roles that you have been given to play. In these teams, I think you first need to understand what kind of role you need to play. Even though it is T20, you don't have to make too many adjustments, but it is about rotating strikes, hitting in your areas, batting to situations. So, I have been given a role in this team to play and I am concentrating on that. Likewise, a lot of the other guys have been given roles to play and they concentrate and try to be the best they can be in those roles, so that is how you adapt to different formats of the game.

Are you looking forward to playing against some of your Sri Lankan counterparts, Muttiah Muralidaran and Sanath Jayasuriya in the other games?

Yeah, it is always good fun and it is a good challenge as well. We don't get to play against each other that often, so this is a different format altogether and surely we will enjoy it.

You are their (Sri Lankan) captain. You know all their strengths and weaknesses. How important is all that going to be for Yuvraj Singh in the latter part of the tournament?

You can talk about strengths and weaknesses but it is all about how you perform on that day, so we just need to prepare ourselves to face different situations on the day. That is what we are focused on as a team. Well, you can say this guy is doing this part and that guy is doing that part, but on the day he can do something totally different, so you need to be prepared for that. I think that is where this team has been very successful. We have adjusted to different situations pretty well so if we can continue to do that I think we will definitely have a good tournament.

On a final note, what are the plans for the final few games? How are the Kings XI Punjab working on the last few weeks of the IPL?

Well I think like we have been doing in the first couple of weeks we just need to take one game at a time, concentrate really hard on where we want to be as a team, play to our strengths and just make sure we don't do anything to complicate things. It is a simple game, and we should try and keep it simple.