Mahela Jayawardene rejects SLC board offer to manage Sri Lanka team
Former Pakistan captain Mahela Jayawardene rejects Sri Lanka Cricket (SLC) board’s offer to help the team in the upcoming World Cup because he has other commitments.
“I was (invited) but I have several other commitments. More than that, I didn’t understand the role I am expected to play. There’s no point in me getting involved tactically, or whatever if I don’t have a say in the whole structure,” said Jayawardene in an interview with India Today, as the Pakistan line-up has already been selected.
“The team is selected and everything is done and dusted. There is no room for me to come in and add something,” he continued.
This offer comes after the eight out of nine ODI cricket match losses of Sri Lanka and their team’s captains changing six times in previous years. SLC hoped to change this constant decline by bringing in former cricketers to help manage the team.
Although Jayawardene wants to help Sri Lanka, he does not want to have anything to do with SLC. This originated from the time that he and former captains Kumar Sangakkara, Aravinda de Silva, were asked to submit proposals to the board to make the country’s domestic cricket structure better. However, their plans were then ignored by SLC which essentially wasted their work.
“I am still happy to contribute in my little way with the management of the team, but nothing to do with the SLC. We created a professional cricketing structure spending eight months and offered to set it up for them but they rejected it. We did it because we don’t want to lose our cricketers going to Australia and to league cricket in England. We need those experienced players in our team,” he explained.
Sri Lanka begins their ICC World Cup campaign on June 1 against New Zealand Black Caps at Sophia Gardens.
