Sri Lankan legends Mahela Jayawardene and Muttiah Muralitharan have refused to take up the consultants’ role at the Sri Lanka Cricket to help the struggling national side.
Recently, Sri Lanka Cricket selectors have requested the Sports Minister to appoint Kumar Sangakkara, Mahela, Aravinda de Silva and Roshan Mahanama as consultants to SLC to advice on cricket matters and Muralitharan as an advisor to spin bowling department.
But the duo straightway refused to take up the roles and Jayawardene is highly disappointed after his last tenure with the board at the special panel, as his recommendations were ignored and he did not want the same to be repeated. The spin wizard too disregarded the offer based on more or less the same reasons.
On 14 June, Mahela went on his official Twitter handle to declare his decision, “With all due respect to the selectors & the sports minister I have spent 1 year in the cricket committee & 6 months in a special advisory committee & no recommendations were implemented. I don't have any trust in the system. If anyone wants to buy time please don’t use us!”
With all due respect to the selectors & the sports minister i have spent 1 year in the cricket committee & 6 months in a special advisory committee & no recomendations were implimented. I dont have any trust in the system. If any one wants to buy time please dont use us! https://t.co/tRXyLJ65n3
— Mahela Jayawardena (@MahelaJay) June 14, 2018
Meanwhile, as per reports in Sportstar, Muralitharan said in a statement, “I am of the view that it is an insincere, cunning move, more to use us when the cricket administration is in such a deplorable state and I stand by the sentiments that Mahela has expressed of not being able to trust the system as per his own experience of attempting to resolve pressing issues which was never implemented.”
Muralitharan signed off by saying, “It is sad that national cricketers are not consulted until it (the sport) hits the rock bottom. I would not hesitate to give my time if I do realize the genuineness and credibility of the administration despite my own professional coaching engagements worldwide.”
Noteworthy, Sri Lanka cricket team’s awful struggle is continuous in West Indies as well since suffering a series Test and one-day whitewash to India on home soil, then lost a one-day series to bottom-ranked Zimbabwe at home and crashed out of the Champions Trophy early last year.
Sri Lanka suffered a heavy defeat of 226 runs in the first Test of the three-match series last week in Windies.
