The narrow defeat to Pakistan at the Pallekele International Cricket Stadium, Pallekele, turned out to be Sri Lanka’s last match of the tournament, and Jayasuriya confirmed that he had already made up his mind about leaving the role.
Although he has not yet officially informed Sri Lanka Cricket (SLC), the 56-year-old revealed that he had long planned for this World Cup to be his last assignment.
“I thought it was time to give it to someone else. That’s why I said about two months ago during the England series that I don’t have the hope of staying in this job for long. I had already made that decision by then. I thought I could leave with a good feeling as coach at the World Cup. I wasn’t able to do that as well as I would like and I’m sad about that,” he told ESPNcricinfo.
Despite publicly announcing his intentions, Jayasuriya ruled out an immediate exit. Sri Lanka will play Afghanistan for a limited-overs series in the UAE from March 13, although the series now faces uncertainty due to the worrying situations in the Middle East.
“My contract runs until June. I haven’t officially given SLC any news yet. They don’t even know I’m going to say this. I’ll have to talk to them about whether they can find someone [to coach the team] then definitely [they should do that]”, he concluded.
Jayasuriya took over as head coach soon after the 2024 T20 World Cup and had a promising start to his tenure. Under his leadership, Sri Lanka registered a historic victory in the bilateral ODI series against India in August 2024, the first in 27 years. The team also recorded a memorable Test victory at The Oval before recording a 2-0 win over New Zealand at home.
However, the second half of his term was marked by struggles in the shortest format. Sri Lanka suffered four consecutive defeats at home T20 World Cup 2026which led to an early exit. The side also delivered disappointing performances in the 2025 Asia Cup and a T20I tri-series in Pakistan, raising questions about consistency in white-ball cricket.
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