‘Only available symbol will be the ball guard’: Mahela jokes about a future in politics

Former Sri Lanka cricket captain Mahela Jayawardena joked about a future in politics, saying that he and his friends would have to contest under the ball guard symbol.

Speaking at the Chamber of Young Entrepreneurs Leadership Forum 2024, Jayawardena said, “I hope that you all vote for me on the 14th!”

After a brief silence, Jayawardena continued, explaining, “Everyone is wondering which party. A few of my friends, and we thought we’d try this out. We thought we’d create a party and create some excitement, but unfortunately, all the names were taken.”

“Then we thought, “Okay, we’ll start with a symbol, so obvious thing, cricket bat – it was taken a few years back. A cricket ball was taken. We googled and saw they [those parties] had nothing to do with cricket. And one of my friends said that the only thing probably available as a symbol will be the ball guard. And that was it, our political dreams went away,” Jayawardena joked.

He did clarify that he had no aspirations to contest an election.

“You are all safe. At least for another five years. There is no ambition on my part to be a politician,” the former captain said.