Former Sri Lankan cricketer Mahela Jayawardene, who was working as a consultant with his country’s cricket team in the ongoing T20 World Cup, will leave the tournament ahead of the Super 12 stage due to personal reasons.

Talking about the reasons for his departure, the former Sri Lankan skipper said that he had spent “135 days in quarantine and bubbles since June and I am in last legs”. Adding that he hadn’t seen his daughter for the entire duration, Jayawardene said that he really needs to “get back home”.

Talking about the upcoming match against the Netherlands, he said that that the team will “change the template”. He added that the Sri Lankan team will change its strategy depending on the location of their matches.

The former Sri Lankan skipper added that before he leaves, he would “put all structures in place” to help his team as he was involved in a few IPL matches in Sharjah recently and has an idea of how the pitch behaves.

Under Jayawardene’s mentorship, the Sri Lankan team has qualified for the Super 12 stage, with one match of the qualifiers still remaining. The team has won both its matches against Ireland and Namibia. Sri Lanka is set to play the Netherlands, today, 22 October.

The former batsman expressed that although “things have gone fairly well” for Sri Lanka in the tournament till date, there are some things that need improvement, the chief among them being “what needs to be done in T20 cricket”.

However, the ex-Sri Lanka skipper remained tight-lipped on his reasons for bringing Avishka Fernando down at number four, saying that explaining the decision too much would give out details which other teams might be able to utilise.

Before his role as a consultant for the Sri Lankan team, Jayawardene worked with Mumbai Indians in the UAE leg of this year’s IPL.

Source: Firstpost