Sri Lanka Cricket likely to rope in Chandika Hathurusingha as head coach

Sri Lanka Cricket (SLC) is very close to signing in former Test cricketer Chandika Hathurusingha as the head coach of the Lankan team. Sri Lanka are currently touring India for a 3-match  Test series, which will be followed by limited overs series. The Lankan side are without a Head Coach since Graham Ford left in the month of June, earlier this year.

Last month, Hathurusingha offered his resignation to the Bangladesh Cricket Board (BCB) to quit as the coach of the Bangladesh team. Under Hathurusingha, the Tigers reached the semi-finals of the Champions Trophy apart from beating some of the big names- Australia, England and Pakistan in the Test format at home.

His contract with the BCB was expected to run till the 2019 World Cup, but things were not going too smooth. Bangladesh were thrashed during their away tour to South Africa, and that possibly triggered the call. “As far as I remember, he submitted a letter to me in early October. He didn’t give any specific reasons. He only said he wasn’t interested anymore,”Bangladesh Cricket Board President Nazmul Hasan told reporters in Dhaka. “He is a professional coach. We will deal it professionally. We won’t force him but will ask him about the reason,” he said.

Switches and Moves

Hathurusingha has played 26 Tests and 35 ODI matches for Sri Lanka before being assigned the role of Sri Lanka’s assistant coach under Trevor Bayliss before being fired. He then moved to Australia and took the position of the coach of the New South Wales team before inking a contract with the Tigers.

“We are happy that everything is working out well. He will arrive in Colombo next week and we can take things forward once he comes,” an official told Cricbuzz. “The Ex-Co approved his engagement and we have now sent the draft of the contract to his lawyers. We are almost through and we are delighted,” the official added.