Your App for international cricket.
So, to be included among the all-time greats in such fashion is something truly incredible and to be cherished forever.
It makes me so very proud because I know what you have done for Sri Lankan and world cricket over the course of your career – you are something special.
You played a brilliant innings in the ICC Men’s Cricket World Cup 2011 Final – an unbeaten hundred against India.
You played so many wonderful innings and were always happy to be in the team, getting a lot of runs.
On the field, you had this ability to switch on, you were a great person to be around and play with.
When you became captain, it was your calmness that was key because some players can get so excited.
You have been selected because as a captain you were very successful, you consistently delivered as a batter and then as a fielder, you took a lot of catches – more than anyone else.
But in the first match, whenever you got a chance, you delivered.
Like many subcontinental players, you were a very good player of spin, and in those conditions, you were so hard to get out.
You could stay there and take catches all day, while you were also very good at silly point.
There must have been something special between us because ‘caught Jayawardena bowled Muralidaran’ happened more than any other bowler-fielder combination in Test cricket history.
The reason they chose you as Sri Lanka captain is because you are a special cricketer.
You are one of the game’s great thinkers – you have already excelled as a coach because of it and having worked in international cricket for 20 years, that experience of knowing how to handle situations is there.