COLOMBO: Sri Lanka head coach Sanath Jayasuriya has taken charge after the Islanders lost the three-T20I series against India played in July.
Jayasuriya was recently appointed as Sri Lanka’s interim coach after Chris Silverwood stepped down following a disappointing T20 World Cup 2024 campaign.
The legendary opener admitted that Sri Lankan fans rightfully feel upset and disappointed with the team’s performance but asked the fans to come out and support them in the ODI series.
“I see the players are putting in huge efforts.
Jayasuriya admitted that Sri Lanka had a good start and showed positive signs in the last matches, but maintained that what matters is winning the matches.
“We created a system where top-order batsmen could bat for two or three hours during practice,” he said. Kusal Perera has bowled more than 700 balls and that is quite a lot of overs. I don’t see a lack of commitment but they have to deal with the pressure better. Their cricket awareness also needs to sharpen.
“If you can see, we started well in the last three games. That’s what you’re looking for – for the three-fours to bat well, which we did. That’s a positive sign. Also in the second game, a rain affected game, we got off to a good start and could have had some more runs on the board.
Apart from the first game, we put up really well, we put up well… But there’s still no excuse for us to say anything, and for us, winning is the most important thing.
We take responsibility, you can’t walk away from it. As long as they realize that, and make sure we continue to give them confidence and the support I had to go through that (phase) when I was a cricketer, every cricketer has to go through that.
