Sri Lankan cricket team coach Jayasuriya decides to step down after T20 WC exit

Following Sri Lanka’s Super 8 exit at the ICC Men's T20 World Cup, head coach Sanath Jayasuriya announced he will step down, citing inconsistency despite recent ODI and Test successes during his tenure

Pallekele: After Sri Lanka’s narrow loss to Pakistan in the T20 World Cup Super 8 stage, head coach Sanath Jayasuriya has decided to step down from his role. Sri Lanka missed out on qualifying for the knockout stages of the ongoing tournament, with the island nation suffering a third straight loss in the Super Eights phase after going down to Pakistan by three runs in Pallekele on Saturday.

Jayasuriya plans to sit down with officials to discuss his future as the co-hosts come to terms with the completion of their disappointing campaign at the ICC T20 T20 World Cup. “I thought it was time to give it to someone else,” Jayasuriya said in the post-match press conference.

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“About two months ago, during the England series, I had said that I don’t have hopes of staying in the job for long. I had taken this decision by then. I thought I’d be able to leave as coach on a good note at the World Cup. I wasn’t able to do that as well as I’d like, and I’m sad about that.”

Jayasuriya took over as Sri Lanka coach shortly after the 2024 edition of the T20 World Cup, with the former skipper confirming his preference to leave the role early despite his contract being scheduled to finish in June this year. “My contract runs till June. I haven’t officially informed SLC yet. They don’t even know that I am going to say this. I need to go and discuss it with them. If they can get somebody else to coach the team, then definitely they should do that.”

Sri Lanka managed three wins from their four matches in the initial group stage of the T20 World Cup, but injuries to key duo Wanindu Hasaranga and Matheesha Pathirana derailed their campaign ahead of their winless run in the Super Eights.

“I think we would have done better, for sure,” Jayasuriya continued. “Since we played in Sri Lanka, we had a lot of opportunities to reach the semi-finals. But unfortunately, we are not there. A hundred percent, I feel that we should have done better.” “It was inconsistency. In some games, the batting didn’t click; in others, the bowling didn’t. If you want to win matches, both departments need to perform really well. Unfortunately, we were not consistent, and that was the key. We need to be consistent in every department.”

Under Jayasuriya’s tenure, Sri Lanka recorded their first ODI bilateral series win against India in 27 years in August 2024, before going on to win a Test at The Oval in September that year, and then beating New Zealand 2-0 at home in a Test series. While results at this year’s T20 World Cup fell short of expectations, Jayasuriya believes he achieved significant progress during his time in charge.

“Over the last one-and-a-half years, I was able to bring the team up from where we were. In ODIs, we were ranked eighth or ninth and didn’t even qualify for a Champions Trophy,” he noted. “But I was able to bring us to No. 4. I’ve brought the Test team to No. 6, and the T20 team is also sixth or seventh. “I didn’t do it alone. My support staff gave me incredible assistance. From day one, I asked them to help me because I didn’t have a lot of experience as a coach. But I was able to manage it because of the cricket I had played.”