Sri Lanka coach Sanath Jayasuriya has hailed the work of two former Indian team coaches following the side’s incredible win against Australia in the T20 World Cup 2026. Sri Lanka, who failed to qualify out of the group stage in the last two tournaments, beat 2021 champions Australia by eight wickets to book their place in the Super 8s.
Sri Lanka’s win was boosted by an incredible batting display from Pathum Nissanka, who looked stunning on Monday, February 16. In addition to the first hundred of this tournament, Nissanka also took home an incredible catch, which many fans already call the catch of the tournament.
Nissanka stood his ground and darted to his left to meet Glenn Maxwell’s switch hit and managed to catch the ball well behind his body.
After the match, Sri Lankan head coach and legend Sanath Jayasuriya praised the work of R Sridhar and Vikram Rathour, two former coaches of the Indian teams, for the side’s outstanding performance.
“R Sridhar is our fielding coach, he’s from India, and Vikram (Rathour) is our batting coach as well. They’re both really good guys. They do everything we want to do in training, which is really good for the fielding. With his IPL experience, he works really well with the players and gels well. We gave a lot of confidence to the batsmen. But sometimes we still got the confidence of the batsmen, as batsmen. Vikram and Sridhar were really good players,” he said Jayasuriya.
SL vs AUS: Full Score | Highlighting
He was also responsible for the team’s resilient bowling display. After being hammered for 100 runs in the first eight overs, Sri Lanka managed to suffocate Australia with their spinners. Despite losing their premiership fast bowler Matheesha Pathirana to a hamstring injury, Sri Lanka stayed at the throat of the Australian batsmen, restricting them to 181 runs in 20 overs.
Jayasuriya revealed that the conversation in the dressing room centered around changing the pace and making life difficult for the Australian batsmen who were trying to attack the bowlers with an aggressive stroke play.
“I think we wanted to send a message to change the tempo and slow it down as much as possible and the wicket was holding on a little bit which we wanted to maximize. So I think Maheesh Theekshana all bowled well. We had a terrible thing with Matheesha Pathirana. But I think we came back really well after the first few overs. Maheesh came back brilliantly. Maheesh’s key work was great and they finished it off with three bowlers.” Jayasuriya.
Nissanka’s incredible hundred and gritty bowling display masked the fact that Sri Lanka have now lost two of their main bowlers – Waninda Hasaranga and Pathiran – to injuries. The side will look to continue their spirited run in the next round of the tournament.
T20 World Cup | T20 World Cup Schedule | T20 World Cup Points Table | T20 World Cup Videos | Cricket News | Live Score
– The end
Issued by:
Kingshuk Kusari
Published on:
February 17, 2026