Mahela Jayawardene

Mohali: It’s unusual to ‘desert’ the team on tour and rush home to get married, but Sri Lankan vice-captain Mahela Jayawardene can’t be blamed for not being available for the fourth ODI, in Pune, on November 3.

“Till the dates got revised, we were to have been in India from November 7, which is why my wedding (to Cristina) was scheduled for November 3. However, owing to a number of reasons, I couldn’t reschedule it,” he told The Telegraph on Friday.

Interacting briefly over breakfast at the Taj Chandigarh, Mahela revealed he’d been “going steady” for six years and it was time to move to the next stage. “Well, yes, it has been a long innings,” he quipped.

Cristina, who works in a Colombo-based travel agency, will be in India when the Sri Lankans return for a three-Test series in early-December.