Mahela Jayawardene's Twenty20 masterclass on 'touch' batting
Tuesday 5 May 2015 17:16, UK
Twenty20 isn’t just about power-hitting – as Sri Lanka great Mahela Jayawardene demonstrated in The Zone during our IPL Legends special.
Click on the video above to see Jayawardene demonstrate where touch and craft fits into the batsman’s repertoire in the shortest format of the game.
The 37-year-old, who scored 1,493 T20 runs for his country at an average of 31.76 and strike-rate of 133.18, told Sky Sports presenter Ian Ward how the arrival of 20-over cricket allowed him to go back to the free-flowing strokeplay of his schooldays.
Jayawardene explains how he expanded his strokeplay and introduced greater power into his game so he could hit to devastating effect all around the park.
As part of the masterclass, watch out for Jayawardene’s explanation of how he started to play the ball over the slip cordon to combat slower ball and quicker ball bouncers – and how he executes the shot.
If you enjoyed this, make sure you watch the full version of our #IPL #Legends special with Kevin Pietersen, Mahela Jayawardene and Shane Warne - available on all our digital platforms, as well as Sky Go and On Demand.
You can catch the full show again in a one-hour special at 7.30pm on Tuesday on Sky Sports 1 and again at 10.30pm on Sky Sports 2.
