Can Sri Lanka land Gambhir-or-Shastri-type head coach?

(Daily Mirror) - Following Sri Lanka's early exit from the Cricket T20I World Cup 2024, calls have been made to sack the coaching staff, including Chris Silverwood. 

Although Sri Lanka was able to lift the Asia Cup a few years ago under the Englishman, the team hasn't really made much progress since then. Especially in the ICC World Cup tournaments, Sri Lanka have been awful, so the Silverwood sacking looks imminent which may mark the beginning of a new era under a new leadership. 

So, who can replace Silverwood as the national cricket coach of Sri Lanka?

Over the years Sri Lanka has had some really good coaches; while they had different characteristics, they were very effective. Dav Whatmore for instance had to deal with a group of cricketers playing semi-professional cricket in the 1990s, so he needed to be tough in the way he handled things. Under Tom Moody Sri Lanka had a really good run from 2005 to 2007 where he needed to man- manage some top class players. Since 2015 Sri Lanka has been having so many coaches like the Chelsea Football Club, but without much success. 

1996 was the turning point of Sri Lanka cricket, but in reality Sri Lanka's golden era was from 2000 to 2014 where Sri Lanka had number of world class players who could have played for any team, but the bitter truth is - at present Sri Lanka has got none of that calibre. Wanindu Hasaranga for instance is the number one all-rounder in the world, but in reality, he wouldn't get into the Indian team ahead of Ravindra Jadeja or the England team in place of Adil Rashid - that's the harsh reality. 

The expectations on these players are way too high and for a certain degree the media should also take the blame for it. In all honesty, Sri Lanka has got some bang average players who have been dreadful in ICC events. Perhaps this is why the country needs a coach such as Gautam Gambhir or Ravi Shastri. 

Gautam Gambhir looks almost certain to become the next Indian coach irrespective of what happens in the ongoing World Cup while convincing a top coach like Ravi Shastri would be difficult. However, Sri Lanka Cricket (SLC) president Shammi Silva keeps on bragging about their financial wealth whenever the team ends up losing, the way they did in the World Cup - so perhaps it's time they flex the muscle and get a coach who has had an actual career as a cricketer. 

On the other hand, it was felt that Silverwood never really had much say in the way Sri Lanka played. With Mahela Jayawardane being a part of that setup, many believed that most decisions were made by him, and the public believes that some of the questionable team selections in the past, may have been influenced by SLC - this stops the moment someone like Shastri or Gambhir takes over. 

Moreover, at present some of the players think they are bigger than the team. There have been rumours that the captain had threatened to pull out of the World Cup had the selectors picked a certain fast bowling all-rounder believed to be Chamika Karunaratne. While this strongly remains a rumour - it is important that there is a coach to show the captain the exit door should something like that ever happens - Silverwood would not have that power in a million years.