Jayasuriya is no ordinary player. He was literally the first “outsider” to become the superstar, to lead the team, to open the innings, to inspire generations and to make fans glued to their television. He did them all just by being himself.
Coming into the team as a spinner, he wasn’t definitely the best one. He batted at number six or seven and his batting talent wasn’t explored at that time.
He was at the right place at the right time when Sri Lanka scouting for someone like him. 20 years ago, he wouldn’t have made into the team for being too aggressive, and 20 years later, he wouldn’t because youngsters would have taken over. He wasn’t the best when he was asked to open the innings. It was controversial. It was hard. There were doubts and when he failed initially, they were talks all over. He slowly learnt to adapt and as time went, he adapted to last at the position for more than a decade.
Today, that tiny decision to make him open changed the way people look into the game. For the IPL-heads, who talk more about the stats and everything today, might find it difficult where there is always a buzz about Jayasuriya. Of course, they didn’t witness what the fans of his generation did. Let me remind you, cricket wasn’t all about T20 those days. Most of the shots were unfamiliar and batters did have a tough time exploring things explosively.
Aggression wasn’t added to the elegance and class of cricket until Jayasuriya did. He was a game-changer in all sorts. His ‘dead’ spin would grab him a wicket or two whereas, his cruel way of treating the bowlers stood out. When he began to open, he became the epitome to ‘explosiveness’.
He wasn’t smashing the ball until it was in his place. Unfortunately for the bowlers, he had almost the whole turf. He would dance down even to sweep and make bowlers and captains scratch their head. The crowd would accept his knock but would pray for their team to win. Inswingers flew towards right and outswingers were flashed through the point. The ball would lose its nature, the stitches would break. Venom was written all over it and was signed. His aim wasn’t to take the shine off the ball but also enjoy it in the middle. He never hesitated to go for it yet controlled himself when needed. I mean, he would prefer dealing in fours rather than sixes. That was the least he would do. He would cut, carve, pull and place. Everything would happen in minutes. You would miss them if you are late to the game. Even his walk of regret where he shakes his head was lovable too.
Yet, he also knew to turn off his explosion when needed and move to steal singles. Let me remind you, he has a triple hundred. He didn’t play his game every day. He knew not every match deserves a blast or the blast had different meaning for different matches.
He never changed his technique but had certain tweaks throughout his career and he stayed the same shy kid who had a spark in his eyes when he held the bat for the first time. He made captains realize that the first hour of the game can change the result and proved it many times. He did come with some weakness yet his aggression overshadowed them all. One wouldn’t know what exactly worked against him and he would nullify the bowlers’ plans. Somedays in a good way, somedays not. Yet nobody could get over him, the fear of him and he did annoy every single bowler out there even though a few deserved respect. Among the fearful bowlers and frustrated captains, there were fielders who had nothing to do but to pick up the ball from the boundary.
He stood between the team and the result even though his teammates were legends too. It didn’t matter at all.
The cricket dictionary of 1996 had words that were less used and aggression was one of them. Teams like England, Pakistan became his victims and had a tough time even today to recover from the damage he did. Every cricketer who featured in 1996 would love to erase the year from their memory. Bad spells are one thing and brutally rattled is another. Oh yes, he did treat everyone with the same respect but 1996 was a different story altogether.
Unorthodox and paintings seldom went hand in hand, but he proved otherwise. He was modern art, well ahead of his time. Even when his career was declining and was the graph was sliding down, he had many innings that kept the fear alive. He was an exhausted volcano with less power and spark.
The exhausted volcano is still a volcano. You cannot write it off. The damage might not be the same but it is effective. It was. Many of his innings were, even though his legs were tired and he couldn’t see things as he used to do. Still, he resisted to allow the curtains to fall, contributed in ways possible. Nobody could come before him and the game. Even at 40, he was travelling the world, opening the batting and was treating the bowlers the same way as he always did.
They don’t make cricketers like Jayasuriya. They are born. They grow up with something and allow the magic to grow on them. While his batting was his bread and butter, his bowling was oatmeal. Somedays, oatmeal would come in handy. When desperate situations arise. At the end of the day, he was someone who rewrote history, gave a new flavour to the good old game and survived everything just by being himself and by enjoying what he was doing.
