Jayasuriya as coach: Cricket Sri Lanka has eye on future  

The announcement of Sri Lankan legend Sanath Jayasuriya as permanent coach of the men’s national team until the 2026 ICC World Cup on Monday was one of the most heartening pieces of news for the island nation’s cricket in a long time. After dallying with mediocre overseas professionals for far too long, Cricket Sri Lanka have looked inward for an incumbent whose ability to earn respect from the current crop is unquestionable.

The former dasher’s first assignment as head coach will be the forthcoming limited overs matches against West Indies in Dambulla and Pallekele. However, ever since he took over in an interim role since the Lankans made a group stage exit from the T20 World Cup in the US and West Indies, the team has shown enough signs of a turnaround to prompt the board to go with the popular choice.

Only time can tell whether it all points towards a new dawn, but the early signs have been really encouraging. Soon after the World T20, they turned the tables on a virtually full strength India in a ODI series at home after 27 years, acquitted themselves creditably in England with a victory at the Old Trafford before losing the Test series 2-1, followed by a 2-0 sweep in the Test series against the Kiwis at home.

A remarkable show of self belief in their performance in the recent Tests have propelled the Lankans to third spot in the World Test Championship (WTC) 2023-25 cycle behind India and Australia, giving them an outside chance of making the final next year for the first time.

The rise of Kamindu Mendis as the next big thing in world cricket, coupled with their senior players gelling extremely well as an unit has resulted in the sparkle in the last few months, and insiders of Sri Lankan cricket feel that the easygoing Jayasuriya has been able to strike the right chord with the players so far.  

Jayasuriya has, meanwhile, said in various interviews that his primary role is that of creating an environment in which players can operate with freedom. The latter, on their part, appear to have been receptive to his methods, with several providing glowing reviews in public.

Interestingly enough, this is the 55-year-old World Cup winner’s first foray into coaching, though he has served the national team as chief selector in two separate stints. It’s been quite a turnaround for the former captain, who once served a two-year ban under the ICC’s anti-corruption code.

Good performances

"The Executive Committee of Sri Lanka Cricket made this decision taking into consideration the team’s good performances in the recent tours against India, England and New Zealand where Jayasuriya was in charge as the ‘interim head coach,” SLC said in a post on X. Jayasuriya’s permanent role has come into effect from 1 October and runs until 31 March 2026, Sri Lanka Cricket confirmed.

One of the all-time greats in their country, Jayasuriya’s contribution in the domain of one-day internationals has been unparalleled. In the 445 ODIs he played, the left-hander struck 13,430 runs at an average of 32.36 with 28 hundreds and 68 half centuries. He has played 110 Tests between 1991 and 2007 and scored 6973 runs at an average of 40.07 with the help of 14 centuries.

An useful left-arm spinner, he is also the fourth highest ODI wicket-taker from Sri Lanka with 323 wickets apart from 98 Test scalps.