NEWS
Follow UsIndian Premier League (IPL) franchise Rajasthan Royals (RR) have a very strong Sri Lankan connection, thanks to the presence of Director of Cricket Kumar Sangakkara. But the tables were turned earlier this week in Colombo, as an RR connection enabled Sri Lanka to register its first bilateral series win over India in 27 years.
Sanath Jayasuriya, who was interim coach of the Sri Lankan series for the tour of India, revealed in the aftermath of the ODI series win how an extensive coaching programme with the Director of High Performance at RR, Zubin Bharucha, enabled the Lankan batters to get into the zone and bat long.
"I got Zubin [Bharucha] from Rajasthan Royals and he came and did a seven day coaching programme. We learnt a lot, the players learnt a lot on how to bat long innings, and one batsman was batting 2-3 hours. That gave the batters a lot of confidence,” Jayasuriya said after the series win.
The three-match series saw India get bamboozled by Sri Lanka’s spinners, but equally, the hosts comprehensively out-batted the visitors. That was a byproduct of top-order batters, such as Pathum Nissanka and Avishka Fernando, digging in and scoring valuable runs.
"The players only need confidence. If they get some runs on the board, if they are bowling well, if someone gets starts and gets big runs, so those are the little things they can get the confidence high.”
Talent and potential have never been an issue with this Sri Lankan side; consistency—or rather, the lack of it—has let the team, particularly the batting, down in recent times. This three-match series, however, saw the entire group consistently chip in with impactful showings. Jayasuriya revealed that the coaching staff has been working overtime to get the best out of the younger players.
"We have been working with players like Wellalage, Nissanka, Avishka Fernando, Asalanka, all are very young players. Hasaranga got injured, and Vandersay has been there for a long time but never got the opportunity, and when we gave the opportunity, he grabbed it with both hands," the interim coach said.
Jaysuriya further revealed that the team's frustration in the T20I series spurred them on to put up a strong showing in the ODIs. Sri Lanka were whitewashed in the T20I series that preceded the ODIs, with a super over defeat in the third game—in which Rinku Singh and Suryakumar Yadav helped India to pull off a tie—summing up the horror series for the hosts.
"The boys went through a very, very hard time. Even during the T20 series we played well but the result was not what was expected. The players realised what went wrong when we came back to Colombo and they started to play well,” Jayasuriya said.
Throughout the 21st century, Jayasuriya was unable to win an ODI series against India as a player, but the 55-year-old managed to break the duck in his first attempt as coach.
The former all-rounder has one more series under his belt as interim coach — the forthcoming tour of England —, but he confirmed that he would not be taking up the head coach role and will return to being the high-performance manager.
"Sri Lanka cricket is looking for a coach at the moment. I stepped in for two series: the India series and the England series. They will look for a coach. I'm there as an in-charge for high performance, but I will support Sri Lanka cricket,” Jayasuriya said.
“I must thank SLC, they have given everything possible for the players and our support staff. Also, I hope they will find a good coach to bring these youngsters to a higher level and continue the winning streak."
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