Sanath Jayasuriya appointed as Head Coach for Sri Lanka, new Contract tenure revealed

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The Sri Lanka Cricket board has announced the appointment of Sanath Jayasuriya as the head coach of the national team on Monday (October 7).

After a fantastic outing under Jayasuriya's guidance, the SLC has decided to keep the former player at the helm for the next one and a half years.

"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,'" a statement from the SLC read.

Jayasuriya was instrumental behind the revival of the Sri Lankan team in recent times. After a disappointing T20 World Cup, the Lankans came back strongly against India in the ODI series. Following that, they pulled off a brilliant Test win in England despite losing the series. The most recent success has come against New Zealand, where the Islanders secured a 2-0 clean sweep of the Test series. The recent wins have also taken Sri Lanka into the 3rd position in the WTC points table.

The SLC has also announced that the current contract of Jayasuriya will expire at the end of March in 2026.

"The appointment came into effect on October 1, 2024, and will remain until March 31, 2026," the statement added.

It means that Sri Lanka will participate in the T20 World Cup in 2026 with Jayasuriya at the helm, a tournament which they will co-host with India. The immediate assignments are against West Indies and New Zealand for the Lankans.

They will play the Caribbeans in a 3-match T20I and 3-match ODI series at home, and the same number of matches will be played against New Zealand when Lankans travel down under in December this year. In between the limited overs fixtures, Sri Lanka will fly to South Africa for a two-match Test series starting from November 27.