Chandika Hathurusingha, the troublesome head coach of Sri Lanka, is still adamant in completing his remaining 16 months with the national team, despite all the speculations about his possible sacking and demotion, Cricket Age reliably learns.
Following the World Cup, where Sri Lanka finished in sixth place with 3 wins in 9 games, the SLC had decided to remove support staff, including head coach Chandika Hathurasingha from the national team setup.
Accordingly, following a special directive from Sports Ministry, Hathurusingha is currently facing a suspension while fast bowling coach Romesh Rathnayake shouldered responsibility as interim coach during recently concluded New Zealand Series.
However, Hathurusingha has remained firm on his stance to complete his contract with SLC.
“Mr. Hathurusingha is still the head coach of Sri Lanka national team. It’s as simple as that. And, still, he is very determined to bring Sri Lanka Cricket forward in his remaining 16 months” a source, who is close to Hathurusingha, informed Cricket Age on Sunday.
On September 13, Cricket Age had published that SLC is mulling over demoting Hathurasingha as A team or U19 coach and the final decision is likely to be taken during ExCo meeting on Monday (tomorrow).
However, the source dismissed SLC this theory as well to put him with U19 or A team.
“SLC administrators are free to day dream about anything. However, as per Mr. Hathurusingha’s contract, his job function has been specified as head coach of national team. So, he will remain head coach of Sri Lanka national team for remaining 16 months” the source added further.
Another argument is that even after his suspension, Sri Lanka lost a home series against New Zealand.
“They suspended him by saying that he was not winning matches for Sri Lanka. Now, under Interim coach Romesh Rathnayake, Sri Lanka just lost a T20I series on home soil” he added further.
According to the source, the only possibility of a negotiation depends on SLC proposal on his salary for remaining 16 months of his tenure.
“If SLC top brass wants to negotiate, they have to pay full payment of his remaining period.”
In the meantime, due to his suspension, Hathurusingha is just staying at his office room at Kettarama and getting his 40,000$ monthly salary without any particular job assignment.
