Sanath Jayasuriya quits as Sri Lanka head coach after T20 World Cup 2026 humiliation

Legendary cricketer and head coach of the Sri Lankan team, Sanath Jayasuriya, has announced that he’ll quit from his role after the team’s humiliating exit from the ongoing T20 World Cup 2026. Following Sri Lanka's close five-run loss to Pakistan on Saturday, which terminated their tournament season, he made the statement.

According to Jayasuriya, he thought it was time for someone else to assume leadership. He pointed out that he had already made hints about leaving during Sri Lanka's England series roughly two months prior, and he had hoped to end with a successful World Cup performance. But he was dismayed by the team's early departure.

“I thought so. I thought I should give that title to someone else. That’s why I mentioned two months ago during the England series that I have no plans to stay here. So, I said that after talking about that decision. I thought from the World Cup, I would be able to leave here as the coach on a good note. I couldn’t do that as much as I thought. I feel sorry about that, but I could have taken this team forward for one and a half years of time,” Jayasuriya said at the post-match presentation on Saturday.

“We were in 8th and 9th places, and we were not even qualified for champions as an ODI team. I took that team to number 04. I brought the test team to number 6; I also brought the T20 team to 6th and 7th places. For all those, I took the team with an overall winning rate of 50%. I didn’t do that alone; my support staff gave me huge support for that. From the first day I started, I asked them to help me,” he added.

Soon after the 2024 T20 World Cup, Jayasuriya became the head coach, and at first, he supervised a run of promising outcomes. In August 2024, Sri Lanka won their first bilateral ODI series against India in 27 years while he was in charge.

The following month, the team won a historic Test match at The Oval and went on to defeat New Zealand 2-0 at home.

“Because I didn’t have experience as a coach, you all saw that. I could manage that as the way of the cricket that I played. I did that. So, I think I can be happy about what I did. But I can’t be happy about the way that a World Cup ended. I’m a little sad about it—not a little; I’m very sad about it. So, let’s see, my contract ends in June. I have not given my official decision or anything to Sri Lanka Cricket. I have to go and discuss it with them. Have to talk about what I have to do,” he added.

Sri Lanka had qualified for the Super 8s in a very good style but couldn’t manage a single win in the Super 8s stage, losing to New Zealand, England, and then Pakistan. Jayasuriya expressed sympathy for the supporters since they had shown a great deal of faith in the team and unwavering support from the first game.

Even while fans may now feel let down or frustrated and may have vented their ire on social media or in casual conversations, he emphasized that he was thankful for such support.

“I’m very sorry about the spectators, because I know how they had faith in the team when they came to the matches. I think from the first match itself, they gave us their maximum support to Sri Lanka. So, I’m forever thankful for that. They may be worried, maybe they were angry with us, may have scolded us, may have scolded us on social media, or even when they see each other on the roads,” Jayasuriya said.

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