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Exclusive: Sanath Jayasuriya accepts Sri Lanka Head Coach role, no truth in Negotiations rumors

Written by N Krishnamurthy

Legendary Sanath Jayasuriya, who was acting at interim capacity till now, has been offered extension as permanent head coach of Sri Lanka national team until 2026 T20 World Cup, with a monthly salary package of approximately 25,000 USD and he has accepted it, Cricket Age exclusively learns. Accordingly, all the rumors, about the negotiations and Jayasuriya being not happy with the offer, have turned blatant lies. Cricket Age also understands that, contrary to rumors, Jayasuriya has been offered only one salary package by the Sri Lanka Cricket (SLC).

Cricket Age was the first to break Jayasuriya’s appointment news as permanent head coach on September 28.

Jayasuriya took over on an interim basis in early July after the departure of his predecessor Chris Silverwood, and the legendary former opener has galvanised his charges in a short amount of time.

In August, Jayasuriya’s side beat India in a bilateral one-day series, its first such win over its powerful neighbours since 1997.

The win over England at the Oval last month was Sri Lanka’s first Test win in the country since 2014, and its series win against New Zealand is its first over the Black Caps in 15 years.

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.

Sri Lanka also 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.

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N Krishnamurthy