Sri Lanka men’s cricket team head coach and former captain Sanath Jayasuriya has resigned from his role. The development comes after the team failed to reach the semi-finals and exited the mega event from the Super Eight stage. Sri Lanka ended their campaign with a narrow five-run loss to Pakistan, but their elimination had been confirmed well before that. The side fared well in the first round but lost all three of its matches in the Super Eight to bow out of the tournament on a disappointing note.
“I thought it was time to give it to someone else. That’s why about two months ago I’d said during the England series that I don’t have hopes of staying in the job for long. I’d taken this decision by then. I thought I’d be able to leave as coach on a good note in the World Cup. I wasn’t able to do that as well as I’d like, and I’m sad about that,” said Jayasuriya.
“My contract runs till June,” he said. “I haven’t given SLC any news officially yet. They don’t know that I am going to say this even. I will need to go and discuss with them. If they can get somebody [to coach the team] then definitely [they should do that],” he added.
Dasun Shanaka’s stunning onslaught couldn’t avert a narrow five-run defeat for Sri Lanka but knocked Pakistan out of the T20 World Cup, as New Zealand joined table-toppers England from Group 2 in the semifinals on Saturday.
With 28 needed off the final over, the Sri Lankan skipper clobbered Shaheen Shah Afridi (1/48) for three consecutive sixes and a four to bring the equation down to six off the final ball. But Shanaka left the last delivery alone, thinking it would be called a wide – which the on-field umpire did not give.
Shanaka smashed eight sixes and two fours to make 76 not out off just 31 balls, as Sri Lanka finished at 206/7 in reply to Pakistan’s 212/8. Pakistan needed to keep the island nation under 147 to surpass New Zealand (1.390) on net run rate and qualify for the final four.
