The Asia Cup is among the tournaments which has been a treat to watch for the fans of majorly of the Asian teams who play the game of cricket. The Asian giants like India, Pakistan, and Sri Lanka are the major teams that have won the tournaments so far in the history of the Asia Cup. The most successful team in Asia Cup history is the Indian squad. Hence, the stage of the tournament is so high that every performance in the tournament comes up as the highlight.
Mahela Jayawardene is one such player who has earned his name on the international circuit to be a player who possessed rock-solid technique and was a workhorse when it came to scoring runs. Throughout the tournament, the legendary batter had scored 674 runs in the 28 matches that he played. For the Sri Lankan team, he, along with Kumar Sangakkara, was exceptional in the middle order. Let us look at Jayawardene’s 3 best performances in Asia Cup:
1. 78 vs India in Mirpur in 2012
In the 2012 edition of the Asia Cup, Sri Lanka took on the Indian team in match number 2 of the tournament. India batted first and scored a mammoth score of 304 runs in their allocated 50 overs. Unfortunately, the Sri Lankan team fell short of the total but Mahela Jayawardene was the warrior with the bat for the Sri Lanka team. The right-hand man scored a brilliant 78 runs off just 59 deliveries with 10 boundaries along with a couple of sixes while opening the batting.
2. 75 vs Pakistan in Mirpur in 2014
In the 2014 edition of the Asia Cup, the legendary batter scored a well-crafted innings of 75 runs off 93 deliveries in the all-important final. Chasing a decent score of 261 runs to win in the finale and reclaim the Asia Cup. Jayawardene came into bat at 56/2 and then stitched a match-winning partnership of 156 runs with Lahiru Thirimanne to guide Sri Lanka to a great position of winning the final as well as the title.
3. 61 vs UAE in Lahore in 2008
In the 2008 edition of the Asia Cup, the Sri Lankan team steamrolled the United Arab Emirates team by a humongous margin of 142 runs with a great contribution from senior players in the name of Kumar Sangakkara and Mahele Jayawardene. The legendary batter scored a brilliant 61 runs off just 43 deliveries, which included nine boundaries.