COLOMBO: Chandika Hathurusingha said on Wednesday he scents
opportunity as the new head coach of Sri Lanka despite a string of
humiliating defeats.
“It will not be pressure but an
opportunity,” the 49-year-old former Test batsman told reporters after
being named to the post on Dec 8. “I am proud to take this opportunity
to coach my own country to maximise the potential that we see from
outside.”
Hathurusingha also said he would streamline
the selection process which he believed could revive the sagging
fortunes of the team.
Sri Lanka this year have turned in
their worst performance since 1987. Out of a total of 29 ODIs they won
only five while losing 23.
In Tests, they lost eight matches including a 3-0 pasting at home at the hands of world number one India.
During their continuing tour of India, Sri Lanka lost a three-match Test series 1-0 and the subsequent one-dayers 2-1.
On Wednesday they were playing the first of three Twenty20 Internationals with India.
They travel next to Bangladesh for a tri-series also involving Zimbabwe, followed by a two-Test rubber with the hosts.
Hathurusingha
resigned as Bangladesh’s coach in October after guiding the national
team through their most successful period in his three years in charge,
masterminding Test wins over England and Australia.
His
contract with the Bangladesh Cricket Board was due to run until World
Cup 2019 and made him one of the world’s highest-paid cricket coaches on
$40,000 a month.
The Sri Lanka post had been vacant since South African Graham Ford quit in June.
Nic Pothas, the fielding coach, was asked to fill the position in the interim.