Former Pakistan coach Gary Kirsten. (FILE photo)
Sri Lanka on Monday appointed South Africa’s Gary Kirsten as the new head coach for their men’s team, replacing Sanath Jayasuriya. the board announced. “Sri Lanka Cricket wishes to announce the appointment of former South African cricketer Gary Kirsten as the new head coach of the national men’s team, effective from 15 April,
2026,” the Sri Lanka Cricket Board posted on Instagram. His appointment with Sri Lanka Cricket will be for a two-year term ending on 14 April 2028,” the release added.
Among Kirsten’s primary responsibilities will be guiding the Sri Lanka National Men’s Team in its preparation and campaign for the ICC Men’s Cricket World Cup 2027, which will be held in South Africa, Namibia, and Zimbabwe. The appointment of the new head coach is part of Sri Lanka Cricket’s efforts to revamp the structure of the National High Performance Center.
Kirsten coached India from 2008 to 2011, guiding them to the ODI World Cup in the last year of his tenure. He also managed South Africa from 2011 to 2013, helping the Proteas become the number 1 ranked team in all formats of the game. Kirsten was also appointed as the Pakistan white-ball team’s head coach in April 2024 but resigned just six months into the job.
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Before accepting Sri Lanka’s offer, Kirsten acted as a consultant to Namibia for the recently concluded 2026 T20 World Cup but couldn’t help the team cross the group stage where they finished at the bottom losing all 4 matches they played against India, Pakistan, USA and Netherlands.
Sri Lanka did not fare much better in the World cup as well with the co-hosts getting eliminated from the Super 8s after losing matches to England, New Zealand and ultimately Pakistan.
During his playing career, which spanned from 1993 to 2004, Kirsten scored a total of 14,087 runs across Test and One Day International (ODI) formats, including 21 Test centuries and 13 ODI centuries.
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