The Hindu : Sport : `I have enjoyed the challenges'

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Wednesday, Jun 06, 2007
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`I have enjoyed the challenges'

K.C. Vijaya Kumar

RELAXED: Mahela Jayawardene, who is seen with his wife, has managed to transform Sri Lanka into a strong outfit. — Photo: K. Murali Kumar

Bangalore: Mahela Jayawardene has an impish charm but beneath the velvet gloves, the iron fist is quite handy. The Sri Lankan skipper, who will lead the Asian XI in the three-match Afro Asia Cup ODIs commencing in Bangalore on Wednesday, spoke at length with the media on leadership, packed schedules and the Afro-Asia Cup.

Excerpts:

On captaincy and the art of leadership: I have thoroughly enjoyed the challenges the last two years. I have got a lot of help from my players and a lot of senior guys who have captained, have guided me in the tough times these last two years. The team has been brilliant in this period.

We enjoyed the World Cup trip in the Carribean and credit to the team for the way they performed. And when you have a team that performs like that, the captain's job becomes easy. It is all about motivating individually.

For me, it is about how you get motivated for each game. Every cricket match is serious for me. I see how far you can push yourself.

On the void following coach Tom Moody's resignation: It is going to be a tough one for Lanka to replace Moody.

But the team will work with whoever takes over, to improve from where we are and we will work hard with the new coach.

On his views as a ICC Technical Committee member on `excess cricket': At the ICC level, there are different questions asked like how you will take the game to different countries, how much cricket you will play and how you will take the game forward. There was no definite conclusion how we could do it.

One of the few ideas was to play cricket during the season and have certain number of rest days in between matches and series so that adequate rest is given. A lot of ideas were thrown around, we have to wait and see.

On the Afro-Asia Cup matches and his team: When you get a group of guys like this, it is important that we put up a good win. We are playing not just for one billion but for more than that. We have four openers, and a very good middle order. I tried going through the team list last night and got nowhere.

Even with a few players pulling out, we have got a very decent side. It was tough getting the combination and I thought I will leave that task to the coach.

As for the playing eleven, it all depends on what is going to be the best one for Asia XI. That is important instead of thinking about individuals who are on a comeback trail for their respective countries. We also have back-to-back matches in Chennai and it is important to give our fast bowlers some rest.

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