Sanath Jayasuriya to step down as Sri Lanka head coach

Former Sri Lanka skipper Sanath Jayasuriya has decided to step down as the head coach of the Sri Lanka men’s team, bringing an end to his stint after the side’s heartbreaking exit from the T20 World Cup 2026. 

The narrow defeat to Pakistan at the Pallekele International Cricket Stadium, Pallekele proved to be Sri Lanka’s final game of the tournament, and Jayasuriya confirmed that he had already made up his mind about leaving the role.

Although he is yet to officially inform Sri Lanka Cricket (SLC), the 56-year-old revealed that he had long planned for this World Cup to be his final assignment.

“I thought it was time to give it to someone else. That’s why about two months ago I’d said during the England series that I don’t have hopes of staying in the job for long. I’d taken this decision by then. I thought I’d be able to leave as coach on a good note in the World Cup. I wasn’t able to do that as well as I’d like, and I’m sad about that,” he was quoted as saying by ESPNcricinfo.

Despite announcing his intentions publicly, Jayasuriya ruled out an immediate exit. Sri Lanka are scheduled to play Afghanistan for a limited-overs series starting March 13 in UAE, though the series now faces uncertainty due to troubling situations in the Middle East.

“My contract runs till June. I haven’t given SLC any news officially yet. They don’t know that I am going to say this even. I will need to go and discuss with them. If they can get somebody [to coach the team] then definitely [they should do that],” he concluded.

Jayasuriya took over as head coach shortly after the 2024 T20 World Cup and enjoyed a promising start to his tenure. Under his leadership, Sri Lanka scripted a historic ODI bilateral series win against India in August 2024, their first in 27 years. The team also secured a memorable Test victory at The Oval before registering a 2-0 Test series win over New Zealand at home.

However, the latter half of his tenure was marked by struggles in the shortest format. Sri Lanka endured four successive defeats in a home T20 World Cup 2026, leading to an early exit. The side also delivered underwhelming performances in the 2025 Asia Cup and a T20I tri-series in Pakistan, raising questions about consistency in white-ball cricket.