By BIPIN DANI
Former Sri Lankan captain Mahela Jayawardene, who has been recently appointed as a consultant is “eligible” to attend the selection committee meetings on the World Cup tour, according to Aravinda de Silva, the chief of the Technical Advisory Committee.
Speaking exclusively over the telephone from Colombo, he said, “the World Cup squad has already been selected by the selectors and he can’t do anything but, yes, Mahela will be involved in selecting the final eleven”.
“Mahela is officially a part of the squad now and his knowledge and expertise will be utilized in setting out match-strategies and he can attend the selection committee meetings on tour”.
Though Mahela may not have the right to vote, his preference will certainly be considered.
It may be recalled here that Tom Moody, the Cricket Director, was a consultant on the last England tour.
The other two members of the SLC’s technical advisory committee-Muthiah Muralitharan and Kumar Sangakkara are already in the UAE (for the IPL assignments). However, they may not be there throughout the duration of the World Cup. Sanga’s family is in the UK and he may return to the UK, whereas, Murali, who is with his family in the UAE may return to Colombo once Sunrisers finish off their all matches.
“Mahela’s appointment is only for a specific period (October 16-23). It was made clear to us that Mahela wants to spend some time with his family after the IPL and fulfill his prior commitment with the U-19 team and therefore he was not pressured to be with the national team for a longer period”, de Silva further added.
Aravinda will prefer to watch matches on TV in Sri Lanka, he said.
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