Regarded as the finest pure keeper in the world at present, Prasanna Jayawardene hails from Colombo. At the tender age of 19 he was selected to tour England in 1998 as an understudy to Romesh Kaluwitharana. But when Kumar Sangakkara burst onto the scene in 2000, he was put on the back-burner by the selectors. He made his Test debut against Pakistan in 2000, but did not get a chance to bat. Although his talent was never in doubt, Sangakkara's innate batting skills won over the selectors and Jayawardene had to slog it out in the domestic scene.

After a few sporadic Test appearances for his country, Jayawardene was finally given a fixed slot in the Test side when he was selected to play against the visiting South African side in 2006. From then on he became a permanent fixture in the Lankan side as he played on as a pure wicket keeper, while Sangakkara played as a batsman.

He made his maiden Test hundred against Bangladesh in June 2007, an innings which brought out his full batting potential in view. Jayawardene made his ODI debut against Pakistan in Sharjah, April 2003 and scored a duck. From then on, he has just played 6 games for his side in the shorter format as Sri Lanka look to Sangakkara to do the duties in the limited overs formats.

With quick silver reflexes and a razor sharp eye, Jayawardene has done tremendously well behind the stumps when standing up to the wile and guile of Murali and Mendis on crumbling Lankan wickets. Some of the glove-work he exhibited against the Indian side in 2008 was exemplary. Jayawardene conceded only 7 byes in the 6 innings during that tour, with 5 of them coming in one innings - a remarkable statistical achievement.

He has carved out 4 centuries in the lower middle order, often farming the strike with the tail-enders. Prasanna's greatest champagne moment with the bat peeked in at 2011 when he notched up a top quality 112 against a form English bowling line-up led by swing king, James Anderson.

Defying the alien conditions in Cardiff, he held fort for Sri Lanka in a fighting effort. Since then he has played some crucial knocks. Having been branded as a Test specialist, he continues to be a mere stand-by option on Sri Lanka's ODI and T20I plan-sheet. Prasanna Jayawardene has also failed to attract the attention of IPL franchises.
by Srivathsa