Sanath Jayasuriya’s inflated coaching excellence

Sri Lankan Men’s Cricket Team’s recent defeat to a second-string New Zealand side in both white ball-formats of the game exposed their real strength in the shorter versions apart from raising question marks over the narrative of the island’s most popular sport’s resurgence, particularly in ODI cricket, which has been attributed to the so called excellence of Sanath Jayasuriya’s coaching.  

Even when the former Matara District MP was appointed as Interim Coach last July, this column questioned his suitability, as he was banned by the ICC in 2019 from all cricket-related activities for two years after he had admitted breaching two counts of the ICC’s anti-corruption code.

Nevertheless, Jayasuirya’s appointment was praised in the backdrop of the team recording bilateral ODI series victories against India, the West Indies, and New Zealand at home under his coaching supervision. But what most analysts overlooked was that most of these matches were played on big-turning surfaces, which some in the social media termed as paddy fields. Over the years, observers have repeatedly questioned the practice of preparing spin bowler-friendly pitches for international ODIs played in Sri Lanka, as all other top cricket-playing countries host 50-over matches in batting-friendly surfaces.  

Moreover, it is evident that Jayasuriya insists local pitch curators to arrange sub-standard pitches to gain a rather unethical upper hand over the rival teams. No former Sri Lankan coach was ever known for interfering with local pitch curators to fix doctored pitches to achieve victories. Such a strategy is counterproductive, as it does not improve the skills of players and when our team visits overseas, they would invariably struggle to perform in batting-friendly pitches that produce high-scoring encounters. Also, spectators flock to watch ODIs and T20s with the intention of watching high-scoring thrillers in which the bat dominates the ball, instead of witnessing boring, low-scoring games characterised by batsmen struggling to connect with the ball.

The former Sri Lankan captain does not come across either as an astute tactician or intelligent thinker as some of the successful coaches in international cricket. People justified the selection of Jayasuriya as coach on the basis of communication gaps that could arise by the presence of foreign coaches. However, historically, the Sri Lankan cricket team tasted most of its success under the guidance of foreign coaches like Tom Moody, Dav Whatmore, Paul Farbrace, John Dyson, etc.

The former cricketer-turned politician has no coaching credentials to speak of. Neither has he followed any formal course/program related to coaching nor has he got any prior coaching experience even at club level. Even in India, fans have begun to raise question marks over the appointment of Gautam Gambhir, who has a very limited coaching experience, as coach of the Indian Cricket team in the wake of the recent defeats against New Zealand and Australia. 

The downfall of Sri Lankan cricket coincided with the former Sri Lankan explosive, left-handed batsman becoming Chairman of the Selection Committee in 2016. His disastrous tenure as Chief Selector was characterised by lack of strategic thinking, indecisiveness, and favouritism. The controversial cricketer Ramith Rambukwella played only two international T20 encounters and he got both those opportunities when Jayasuriya headed the Selection Committee. The latter was accused of favouring the son of the then powerful politician while depriving the chances of deserving, talented cricketers. The former politician has numerous skeletons in his cupboard too. His entry into electoral politics in 2010 while playing international cricket was condemned severely by sport commentators, and Jayasuriya was accused of using his political influence to get into the 2011 World Cup Squad.

For almost a decade now, the performance of the cricket team in white ball cricket has been on a downward trend. A holistic approach which involves improving the fitness as well as the individual improvement of players, both on and off the field, is necessary to turnaround the fortunes of the number one sport in the island.