Former Sri Lanka skipper Aravinda de Silva has talked about how Sri Lanka Cricket (SLC) board has been trying to get former cricketer Mahela Jayawardena as the coach of their U19 side.

With Virat Kohli and Co. staying in the UK for the upcoming five-match Test series against England, a completely new Indian squad was selected for the upcoming white-ball tour of Sri Lanka.

The new Indian team consists of a mixture of experienced and young cricketers and will be led by Shikhar Dhawan with Bhuvneshwar Kumar as his deputy and the team will be coached by former India skipper and NCA head Rahul Dravid.

“Well, I think when he was appointed as the U-19 coach, I thought India did a good job. Sri Lanka has been trying to convince Mahela Jayawardena to take the U-19 job for a long time but I was not so successful in doing so,” de Silva said in the virtual press conference.

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“I think that is where the foundation is and if you lay the foundation right at the U-19 level, it becomes so much easier to really progress from thereon. That's where I feel you would be able to instill knowledge,” he added.

The former Sri Lanka cricketer then talked about how youngsters at the U19 level need to have their hero as a coach and that’s where the foundation with Rahul Dravid comes in handy.

“That is where you can truly express themselves, once you have the foundation with someone like Rahul, you all know he is a very disciplined individual. The most important for the U-19 guys is to have their hero as the coach. It is not only the cricket part but there is a lot more than cricket in an individual,” the 55-year-old said.

(With ANI inputs)