Dubai: Veteran Sri Lanka batsman Mahela Jayawardene defended his recent form after racking up his 32nd Test century with a brilliant unbeaten knock against Pakistan at the Dubai International Stadium on Thursday.

The 36-year-old, who had faced many questions about his future after not scoring a Test century for 21 months, was 106 not out after teaming up with Kaushal Silva to put his team in a dominant position.

Jayawardene, who was batting with a hand injury, said afterwards: “People always remember only the things we do not do, but they forget that 12 months we were without Test cricket, which was really tough.

“Unfortunately, when you are 36, people judge you on every innings, so luckily for me [captain] Angelo Mathews is not like that. When you get two good balls in the first Test match [in Abu Dhabi], that happens in Test cricket and [Bilawal] Bhatti bowled really well to me there.

“I batted in this match with a game plan. Obviously I had to change my plan a bit more because of the injury and the limitations.

Praise from opponents

“Form can be up and down. It’s very tough, when I’ve played for nearly 16 years, to go out and perform each and every day, but my mindset is to contribute as much to the team and for the winning cause as I can do. If I can do that it will be great.”

Mohammad Akram, the Pakistan bowling coach, lauded Jayawardene’s knock.

“He batted well and concentrated hard despite his injury. It was a chanceless knock and we tried everything to get him. He is such a great batsman that, when he is in full flow, it is difficult to stop him.”

Talking about his injury, Jayawardene said: “With the stitches I had some injections initially yesterday [Wednesday] but I was given a bit of ointment, which is a bit of a painkiller itself, plus lots of Panadol. I think after every four hours roughly.”

Jayawardene expressed his disappointed over Silva, who was dismissed for 95, missing his century. “It was unfortunate, the little guy was batting very well. I’m proud of him, he’s a clubmate of mine and he works really hard at his game.

“It’s good to see that he applied the same commitment at this level, unfortunately not for a hundred. I think his knock was as good as a hundred — he batted through the pressure situation and carried the team. I’m sure he will get many hundreds as he is quite familiar with getting big scores.”