 "Sri Lanka's Mahela Jayawardene denies throwing his hat into the ring for India coaching job")
Former Sri Lanka skipper Mahela Jayawardene has put to rest speculations that were rife about him being considered for the job of Indian cricket team’s head coach. Jayawardene tweeted out his reactions negating the rumours:
Flattered by speculation linking me to India coaching job but I am not looking at full-time positions right now.
— Mahela Jayawardena (@MahelaJay) June 26, 2017
The Sri Lankan batting legend added that he was tied to the coaching commitments with Indian Premier League (IPL) 2017 champions Mumbai Indians and Bangladesh Premier League’s Khulna Titans.
I am completely focused on current commitments with MI and Khulna.
— Mahela Jayawardena (@MahelaJay) June 26, 2017
The erstwhile India coach Anil Kumble’s contract expired last week amid a huge controversy that had erupted because of ‘differences’ between the legendary leg-spinner and captain Virat Kohli, which had threatened to make Kumble’s continuation untenable. Despite reports that Kumble will be given an extension till the end of the West Indies tour (23 June to 9 July), the legend chose to step down following the Champions Trophy final which saw India suffer a humiliating loss to arch rivals Pakistan, and did not accompany the team to the West Indies. Adding more fuel to the speculation of a rift with Kohli, Kumble, in a Twitter post, pointed towards an 'untenable partnership' between them. The Indian team is now in the West Indies, on a tour comprising five ODIs and one T20I, without a head coach and the administrators are looking to fill the vacant position before the team travels to Sri Lanka in the last week of July. Incidentally, Jayawardene was also linked to the position of coach of the Sri Lankan team following the resignation of the erstwhile coach Graham Ford on 24 June.
