Mahela Jayawardena gets one year extension as Consultant Coach
Sri Lanka Cricket (SLC) has offered a one-year extension to Mahela Jayawardena as consultant coach of Sri Lanka men’s senior team, as well as the men’s Under-19 and the Sri Lanka ‘A’ teams, starting January 1, 2023.
Jayawardena was roped in last year to be “in charge of the overall cricketing element of the national teams” and also provide “strategic support” for players and the management teams at SLC’s High Performance Centre. The board seems to be happy with Jayawardena’s contribution to the game, particularly at the U-19 level.
Jayawardene was part of the Sri Lanka men’s senior team as a consultant for the first round of the T20 World Cup in 2021. At the time, he also worked as a consultant and mentor for the Under-19 team, which has been preparing for the World Cup in the Caribbean in 2022. Both Sri Lanka’s players and coaching staff had been complimentary of Jayawardene’s involvement during the World Cup. Jayawardena played a significant role in hiring the current coaching staff of the national team.
Recently Jayawardene was given a broader role at Mumbai Indians, as the franchise’s global head of performance where he will oversee the coaching and scouting at all the three teams the franchise owners now have – Mumbai Indians in the IPL, MI Cape Town in South Africa T20 League and MI Emirates in the UAE T20 League.