Mahela presents a strong case

Former skipper underlines his liking to open the innings with fine shows

The captain, of course, has publicly announced his batting choices, repeatedly plumping for the absent duo of Dinesh Chandimal and Jeevan Mendis. Kumar Sangakkara, his deputy Mahela Jayawardene and coach Trevor Bayliss, along with Aravinda de Silva’s selection panel, must also decide where Jayawardene must bat.

The former skipper opened the innings alongside Tillakaratne Dilshan on Sunday evening as Sri Lanka romped to an eight-wicket victory, and enjoyed himself at the top of the order, playing his strokes freely and unafraid to hit the ball in the air with the field up.

Upul Tharanga, Dilshan’s regular opening partner for a  while now, came in at number three, Sri Lanka not placing too much emphasis on the left-right combination. Jayawardene has made his liking for opening the batting in the limited-overs version all too clear – in the last year, he has made two hundreds opening the batting in 50-over cricket.

At the T20 World Cup in the Caribbean, he came within two runs of becoming the first batsman to make back-to-back centuries, unselfishly giving the strike away and finishing 98 not out. He was a roaring success for Kings XI Punjab too in IPL III as an opener, reiterating that there is merit in him wanting to set the tone in the company of Dilshan, himself no slow coach. But while the 33-year-old is keen to open, he doesn’t want to do it at the expense of team combinations.

“There are guys who have done well as openers in the ODIs and it's not fair to take them out if they cannot bat in the middle-order,” he said recently. “You've also got to make sure that the middle-order is settled and we have the right guys batting in the right positions. We need to think of all that rather than be selfish and think of wanting to open.”

Sangakkara hedged his bets as he spoke on Sunday night about Jayawardene the opener. “We've got to understand that players evolve. Jayawardene is the best batsman we have without a doubt. To me, he's been ideal for us in the middle-order – at number four or five, with the Power Play on, that's a great area for him to bat. But over the last year and a half, Mahela has shown a liking to open. If his mindset is more free to go up top of the order and do the work for the side, then guys like me and other players must back that decision.

“We've got to move down the order and take responsibility down the order,” Sangakkara, who bats one-drop, added. “When we get the batsmen of the quality of Chandimal in the next few months, then we can back that decision even more and keep it a consistent one. This was a change we made for today. For the next game, we'll have to see.”