Former South African batsman Gary Kirsten, who has coached with India, South Africa, Pakistan, Namibia and many other T20 franchises, has recently been appointed the head coach of Sri Lanka.
Under Kirsten’s tutelage, India won the ODI World Cup in 2011, and South Africa won the Test mace in 2012 and later that year achieved the No. 1 ranking in the ICC team rankings in all three formats simultaneously.
Kirsten was also the batting coach of the Gujarat Titans team, which won the IPL in its inaugural season in 2022. Kirsten’s two-year tenure as Sri Lanka head coach began on 15 April and on Thursday he spoke to reporters in Colombo about his ambitions and goals for the team.
We would all like to see the team perform well – Gary Kirsten
When asked what type of performance he expected from the team, Kirsten replied, “I think we would all like to see the team perform really well across all formats. Obviously, there are some big tournaments coming up, the Men’s World Cup in 17 months. We want to have a really good tournament there.”
Although the exact dates of the tournament have not been confirmed, it is expected to be held in October–November 2027. This time, the tournament will be co-hosted by South Africa, Zimbabwe and Namibia.
Sri Lanka has not reached a single ODI World Cup semi-final since finishing runners-up to India in 2011. Kirsten was the head coach of India at that time.
I’m trying to understand what kind of roles we want in the team – Gary Kirsten
Gary Kirsten said that his immediate priority with the Sri Lankan team is to understand what type of team he wants to build and what type of players will play a role in his teams.
“I think my priority at the moment and I’ve already started doing some work on that is just understanding what roles we’re looking for in each different format and then who are the players who can fill those roles,” he said.
next matches of sri lanka
Over the years, it has been suggested that Sri Lankan players have been unable to catch up to modern standards of the game in terms of power and fast scoring.
Gary Kirsten, asked if he agreed with this sentiment, said that his goal was to “bring everyone up to speed with the modern game”. “I think the country has enough skill and talent to compete against the best teams in the world,” he said.
Gary Kirsten also said he wants the team to be more consistent, and cited Sri Lanka’s victory over Australia in the T20 World Cup in February. “It was a brilliant game of cricket by Sri Lanka. So the possibilities are absolutely there.”
“I just want to bring consistency and you know if there are areas in the balance of the team that aren’t quite working, it’s our role and responsibility to understand that and make sure that the skills that are needed are there, we’re grooming and developing players so that we can fulfill their skills.”
In that tournament, which was jointly hosted by Sri Lanka and India, the island nation made it from the group stage to the Super Eights, but were eliminated from the tournament after losing all three of their matches in the second round.
Gary Kirsten will first take charge of the West Indies tour of Sri Lanka in June-July. This tour consists of 3 ODIs, 3 T20Is and 2 Tests. Sri Lanka will host India for 2 test matches in August.
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