On August 18, 2014, Mahela Jayawardene took the field for Sri Lanka in Test cricket for the final time. The second Test against Pakistan in Colombo in August 2014 was the 149th and final Test of Jayawardene’s
international career. The Sri Lanka team gave a memorable tribute to him with a 105-run win over Pakistan to clinch the two-match series by 2-0.
Talking about the match, batting first, Sri Lanka were bowled out for 320 runs in the first innings. For Sri Lanka, Upul Tharanga top scored with 92 runs off 179 balls while Kaushal Silva top scored with 41(106) runs. For Pakistan, Junaid Khan took a five-wicket haul, while Wahab Riaz scalped three wickets each. In reply, Sarfaraz Ahmed scored 103(127) runs as Pakistan scored 332 runs taking a lead of 12 runs in the first innings. For Sri Lanka, Rangana Herath shone with the figures of 9/127.
Mahela Jayawardene scored 54 runs in his final Test
In the second innings, Sri Lanka were bowled out for 282 runs in the second innings giving Pakistan a target of 271 runs to win. Playing the final innings of his Test career, Mahela Jayawardene scored 54 runs off 137 balls, hitting eight boundaries while Kumar Sangakkara contributed with 59(130) runs. For Pakistan, Saeed Ajmal and Wahab Riaz took three wickets each while Abdur Rahman scalped two.
Chasing the winning target, Pakistan were bowled out for 165 runs in the second innings, as Sri Lanka won the match by 105 runs. Sarfaraz Ahmed was top scorer for Pakistan again with a knock of 55(89) runs. For Sri Lanka, Rangana Herath, who took nine wickets in the first innings, ended up taking five wickets in the second innings as well. With this win, Sri Lanka won the two-match Test series by 2-0 and also gave a perfect farewell to Mahela Jayawardene from Test cricket.
Mahela Jayawardene played a total of 149 matches in his Test career from 1997 to 2014. In these 149 matches, Jayawardena amassed 11814 at an average of 49.84 along with 34 hundreds and 50 half-centuries.
