The Two Faces of Mahela Jayawardena

Mahela Jayawardena is a Gemini. Also known as the twins, symbolised by two faces looking in opposite directions. Also reminiscent of the Roman god Janus (where we get January), whose two heads look forward at the new year and back at the old year. Geminis therefore are often two people in one. The twins are not looking in the same direction, they’re looking in the opposite direction. Often Mahela Jayawardena’s career – reflective of himself – is one of manifold contradictions.

He is Steve and Mark Waugh rolled into one human being. I got to the ground early yesterday, knowing that if Mahela opens and we bat, I could miss the last time he walks out to the middle in Sri Lanka. A few others had thought the same and we clapped him, and Dilshan, all the way from the boundary to the middle. The applause had barely died down when he nonchalantly carved the first ball of the match to the point boundary. Just like that. Easy as you like. He continued in that vein hitting five delightful boundaries in his short stay. Then, a shot that looked sublime until we realised it was going down find leg’s throat. Chris Woakes didn’t need to move. That was it. He was gone. For good. 22 balls, which most people who got to the ground late, missed. Five fours and one almost six. But almost is never good enough. He looked in dream like form, looking like the opening debate had been settled for the short term. But no. A rash impetuous stroke. From the stroke of genius, to the stroke of madness in the blink of an eye. The Gemini.

He stood. With the crowd hushed. Watching in disbelief as the ball sailed into Woakes’ hands. Then he cursed himself for his rashness. He lingered longer, hoping against hope for a no-ball. Then, he hung his head and trudged off, before raising it along with his bat, to acknowledge the standing ovation of a now thunderous crowd. Even from 90 metres away I could see the pursed lips, the eyes ever so slightly regretful, and the emotion almost overcoming him as he stepped deliberately and poignantly over the boundary line, for the last time on Sri Lankan soil. There were shots that made him – and us – elated, and shots that made him – and us – want to tear our hair out. It was like Da Vinci, in a fit of pique, drew a red line across Mona Lisa’s face. Like Brahma and Shiva playing a card game, the creator and destroyer. The incorrigible Gemini.

So Geminis are usually described as being versatile, humourous, adaptable, soft spoken and intelligent. The negatives include, inability to make decisions, lack of consistency and biting off more than you can chew. So while Mahela’s batting, captaincy and general demeanour encapsulates many of these traits, there are other elements as well.

Geminis swing between extremes, and most often these extremes are embodied in your astrological Ascendant, which is simply described as the mask you wear to the world, and the Moon, which is your intuitive emotional self. For Mahela this swing occurs between Sagittarius and Virgo. Before you laugh, spare a moment.

Sagittarians are often described as straightforward, intellectual and adventurous. The negatives include cockiness, carelessness, impatience and an intense belief that they can do no wrong. And that is often how Mahela bats when he gets off to a good start. An early boundary brings out his Sagittarian arrow shooting self. Impatient to get a match over and done with, to dominate bowling, to sometimes tactlessly look for runs where he shouldn’t.

On the other hand, the other extreme is his Virgo moon. What he feels instinctively is rationality, practicality, fussiness, reliability, modesty and sometimes harshness and fastidiousness. When Jayawardena is emotionally invested in doing well, he is generally reliable. The 2007 semi final, the 2011 final, those were all stages where he knew he had to score. When he relaxes and let’s the Sagittarian dominate it’s usually a roaring, but short lived flame of an innings.

Ironically MJ is best when he is enjoying himself less. Retreating into his head and thinking things through. The innings against England in the T20 World Cup was one of those knocks. It was brilliant. But he wasn’t having a blast. He wasn’t hitting it out of the park or toying with the bowlers, the stuff that he enjoys. Instead he was accumulating and playing smart. The Virgo modesty vs the cockiness of the Sagittarius. Only someone with sort of dichotomy to their nature can say something in an interview like “I am a bit disappointed that I haven’t been able to get that average of 50, but after 149 games, I am quite happy with 49.”

DO YOU NOT SEE THE CONTRADICTION MAHELA??? Sorry, I’m shouting. But it does my head in, it really does. The bloke who starts the sentence with ‘I am disappointed’, ends it with ‘I am quite happy’. Face – fecking – palm.

Sometimes, the Sagittarius helps though. It’s what makes him keep attacking in the field. It is what makes him hate to lose. It is the fire that makes him pump his fist whenever he takes a slip catch. And his twin, the opposite, is the Virgo that smiles sweetly and shrugs his shoulders a second later when he team mates jump on his back to congratulate him. It’s the Virgo that is modest when he is talking to a stadium full of people, and bashful when he receives well deserved praise. But sometimes, the duality is just too much to bare.

In the last two months of his career, all I ask is that he understands this duality. The two polarities of his personality; the same polarities that are evident in his batting. Like the Nietzscian horses that pull in opposite directions, can he, in the twilight of his career bring those two chariots around to pull in the same median direction. A hybrid, a balance of all the inherent gifts he possesses would perhaps have unrealistically resulted in a product that would have put Aravinda, Lara and Richards to shame. So in fairness to these great players, it may have been God’s will that Jayawardena was not able to fully harness the extremes of his being.

Throughout his career, he has always been one to preserve his identity. ‘This is who I am’ he has often said, with regard to how he plays. In that same maddening interview with Cricinfo he also said “It’s easy to say I could have played more, achieved more, but I didn’t want to be someone else.” Not even – sadly – if that ‘someone else’ was the Greatest Batsman This Country Ever Produced. I applaud that necessity to stay true to yourself. Not try to bat like anyone else. Of course. Nobody is suggesting that he does. But to understand your weaknesses and your strengths is not being someone else. It is being yourself. Understanding yourself completely, and being the best possible version of yourself. Introspection is hard. Execution is even harder. But for a talent such as this, for a human being of such immense altruism, it is not unreasonable to expect him to do so.

Someone famous one said that if you live life in the same way at 55 as you did at 25 you’ve wasted 30 years. I agree. Mahela still bats with the same flair he had when he was flaying attacks at Nalanda College. But these aren’t schoolboy bowlers anymore. They’re the best in the world, and that schoolboy, on his day, is good enough to carve them up. But eventually, ironically, tragically, Harry Gurney had the last laugh. And too often, middling, innocuous bowlers have had the better of Sri Lanka’s brightest talent. Unfortunately, this doesn’t upset Mahela as much as it upsets his legion of fans. Because he knows, as we all do, that he’s better than them. But the runs to prove it, would help.

It is unfortunate that Sangakkara is now batting better than he ever has before. After he broke the shackles. Jayawardena is yet to break the compulsive habit of pressing the self destruct button while he’s at the crease. He needs to channel his Virgo. I don’t want to see him smile when he’s batting. I don’t want to see him have a good time. I want him to have his face set, brow furrowed and look resolute. The fastidious Virgo. Getting hundred after hundred. Over 50 overs, and not 20. I want the Earth sign to pour just a little sand on the Fire sign. To temper the cockiness but not the flamboyance. Reign in the impatience but not the adventure. Is it too much to expect? For two months.

Please.

From a Gemini, probably yes. They can’t help it. It’s in the stars.