Anti-climax to Mahela Jayawardene’s fairytale

PHOTOS:  South Africa bring Kumar Sangakkara, Mahela Jayawardene careers to abrupt end 

But Mahela, much against the director’s wish, ran into Imran Tahir early in his innings. A bowler who has troubled him, a bowler against who Mahela has found going tough, and a bowler who was in between a fine spell of leg-spin.

Scorecard: Sri Lanka vs South Africa

Tahir was tossing, bowling them very very slow and playing with the batsman’s patience. Patience? Aahhh..Mahela has it in abundance, director would have thought. A nervy first over, play-and-miss and uncertain footwork pushed Mahela in a little hole. Director had a little frown.

READ: Sachin leads Twitter tributes for retiring Jayawardene and Sangakkara

Known to be a quality player of spin bowling, he was circumspect in the middle against Tahir and Duminy’s part-time off-spin. With runs not coming, the flashing scoreboard emerged as the second villain. Who cares about the scoreboard when the the ‘broism’ of Mahela and Sangakkara is on exhibition. Runs just flow, don’t they?

A couple of quiet overs, increasing pressure and the bubble burst.

Over 23.1: Tahir returns to bowl his third over on the trot to Mahela, and did just what the doctor, read director, never ordered – end Mahela’s stay at the crease. A half-tracker, too close to pull was played straight to Faf du Plessis. A nothing shot brought curtains down on a monumental career, and Sri Lanka’s World Cup dream.

Sitting in his chair, the director could have only admired the great man for what he had done in the past and tear his hair out for what he did on Wednesday. The Mughal-e-Azam-esque script, set for the grand end, had an abrupt one. Happy endings don’t really happen in the real world, and nothing would comfort the director more than Frank Herbert’s little gem.

“There is no real ending. It’s just the place where you stop the story”

Mahela’s stopped at the SCG, and for years will be remembered for his contributions to Sri Lankan cricket.