Legendary Sanath Jayasuriya, who was acting at interim capacity till now, has been awarded with one year extension as permanent head coach of Sri Lanka national team on the back of remarkable achievements in his short tenure, Cricket Age reliably learns.
Under his wings, Sri Lanka will next host the West Indies for white-ball bilaterals in October, with a three-match T20I and ODI series. The T20I series will begin of October 13. The second and third match of the series will take place on October 15 and 17, respectively. All the matches of the T20I series will take place in Dambulla. The ODI series will kick off on October 20. The second and third match of the series will be held on 23 and 26 October. All the 50-over matches will be played in Kandy.
Following an underwhelming T20 World Cup campaign in USA and West Indies in June, Jayasuriya was appointed by Sri Lanka Cricket (SLC) to oversee the two series against India (white ball), at home, and England (red ball), away. In both the series, Sri Lanka performed excellently.
After losing 3-0 to India in the T20I series, Sri Lanka bounced back to beat India 2-0 in the ODI series. In England, after losing the first two Tests, they came back strong to win the third and final Test. Later, he was asked to continue for the ongoing test series against New Zealand and Sri Lanka are on the brink of 2-0 whitewash!
Yesterday, veteran Sri Lankan all-rounder Angelo Mathews also heaped praised Jayasuriya’s influence on the team since he took over.
Mathews, who scored 88 in the first innings of the second Test against New Zealand in Galle, says Jayasuriya has got the team playing the Sri Lanka way of cricket since taking charge.
“He was superb as cricket director and now as coach. He communicates well, gives us freedom, and has done an amazing job grooming young players,” Mathews said while addressing the media at stumps on Day Two in Galle.
“We are working towards one goal, and everyone is on the same page. He has been amazing in guiding us to play the Sri Lankan way of cricket.”
Sri Lanka have a good chance of making the World Test Championship (WTC) final. They are currently placed third on the points table and another win will keep them in the hunt to finish in the top two. They have a couple of Tests away to South Africa in November and then welcome Australia for three Tests in January-February next year.
