Jayasuriya absolutely demolished any bowling attack if he was in excellent form

Former Sri Lanka opening batsman Sanath Jayasuriya, who revolutionised ODI cricket with his flamboyant style, admitted that he loved to be the intimidating batsman that all bowlers dreaded bowling to.

Known for being one of the most attacking batsmen the game has ever seen, Jayasuriya revealed that being able to hit the ball a long way was all simply down to seeing the ball from the minute it left the bowler’s hand.

Speaking exclusively to Pakpassion.net, Jayasuriya said: “It varies from player to player I guess, each batsman thinks differently, prepares differently. My philosophy was simple, If I saw a ball early in my innings that I thought I could hit the ball to the boundary I would go after it.”

Jayasuriya believes that if any batsman starts dominating, then the bowlers will find it extremely difficult to recover.

“It did not matter whether it was the first ball of a Test match or the last ball of the day. I wanted to intimidate bowlers, to dominate the opposition bowlers, to put them under pressure early and to ensure that it was not the other way around, I always went out to bat with a positive mindset and to play my natural game,” Jayasuriya said.

However, Jayasuriya also noted that an aggressive batsman had to occasionally take his time to get settled at the crease before starting to bring out the big shots.

“However on some rare occasions when I was not seeing the ball that well I would be cautious to an extent and try to establish myself at the crease. There were occasions when you had to take your time, to settle down at the crease and to assess the situation. It all depended on how well I was seeing the ball,” Jayasuriya added.