Bipin Dani
Sri Lanka’s consultant coach MahelaJayawardene will join the World Cup squad soon, it is learnt.
According to the sources in the Sri Lanka Cricket (SLC), the 46-year-old Mahela did not attend the religious ceremony on the day of team departure and did not
travel with the team and is not in Guwahati where DasunShanaka’s Lanka team is playing the first warm up match against Bangladesh at Barsapara Stadium on Friday.
“He will certainly be there for the World Cup matches”, one of the sources revealed.
Sri Lanka’s first match (and tournament’s 4th) in the World Cup is against South Africa in Delhi’s ArunJaitley Stadium on October 7.
Mahela’s contribution to the Lanka team in the Asia Cup is not known. Mahela’s trip to the World Cup in India is approved by the sports minister, along with the other 12-member support staffs.
The support staff list approved by the sports minister is as under : MahindaHalangoda (Team Manager), Chris Silverwood (Head Coach), MahelaJayawardene (Consultant Coach), Naveed Nawaz (Assistant Coach), PiyalWijetunga (Spin Bowling Coach), DharshanaGamage (Fast Bowling Coach), Anton Roux (Fielding Coach), Grant Luden (Trainer), Chris Clark (Physio), ShiranthaNiroshana (Analyst), RohanPriyadarshana (Masseur), Dr. P. Kiriella (Team Doctor), and PramodyaWickramsinghe (Tour Selector).
The sports minister has also ensured that this approval is used for applying for visa only for the tournament and as a single entry.
The above approval for players and the support staffs is granted subject to the condition that a security bond of specific amount is signed between the participants and the SLC. “It is a normal practice adopted for all sports federations”, a sports ministry source revealed.
The manager will also be required to submit his tour report within 10 days of returning home. The sports ministry took the recommendations of the chairman of the National Sports Council.
