Former Sri Lanka batter Mahela Jayawardene has stepped down from the role of Sri Lanka’s Consultant coach with an immediate effect.
Mahela Jayawardene Resigns as Sri Lanka’s Consultant Coach
On June 26, SLC Cricket announced that Mahela Jayawardene who had signed a one-year extension as the consultant coach of the Men’s Cricket team had resigned before the end of his tenure.
“Sri Lanka Cricket wishes to announce that Mr. Mahela Jayawardene, who served as the ‘Consultant Coach’ of the SLC, has tendered his resignation with immediate effect,” an SLC media release said. “Jayawardene, during his tenure, helped implement significant changes to the structure of the national team ecosystem and the High-Performance Center.”
“Sri Lanka Cricket takes this opportunity to wish Mahela all the best in his future endeavors and thank him for the services he rendered during his tenure,” they further added.
Jayawardene started his role as consultant coach in 2022 and has seen different results during his time with SLC, with an impressive victory in the Asia Cup 2022, and an ODI bilateral series win 3-2 against Australia at Home.
But the Sri Lanka team also faced downtimes as they were disappointed with the 2022 and 2024 T20 World Cups and the 2023 ODI World Cup where they failed to enter the knockout stages.
His role was to oversee the cultural shift within Sri Lanka Cricket and has made a name for championing the National Super League. He has brought in various changes and improvements in both first-class and List A cricket and increased focus on data and performance analytics.
During the T20 World Cup 2024 campaign he initially planned to travel with the side, but Sanath Jayasuriya traveled with the team instead. With overlapped programs, he focused on the overall development of the national team.
“It has become apparent to me that current decision-making is no longer fully aligned with the direction we were taking in some of these areas, and after careful consideration, I have concluded that I should step down,” stated in his resignation letter.
Jayawardene being the second most successful coach in the IPL, is currently the global head of performance at Mumbai Indians and its franchises.
