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Sri Lanka named on Friday Chandika Hathurusingha as their new head coach with the mission of ending the national team's crisis run in international cricket, reports Agencies.
The Sri Lankan resigned in October as Bangladesh's coach after guiding the national team through their most successful period in his three years in charge, masterminding Test wins over England and Australia.
He takes over a side that was hammered in Tests by India in home and away series this year and has played poorly in one-day games.
Sri Lanka Cricket (SLC) said Hathurusingha, 49, will take over the national side from December 20. That means he will take charge of the team for the T20 games that end their current tour in India.
The Sri Lanka post has been vacant since South African Graham Ford quit in June. Nic Pothas has been the interim coach. His contract with the Bangladesh Cricket Board was supposed to run until the 2019 World Cup and reportedly made him one of the highest-paid cricket coaches, on $40,000 a month.
Meanwhile, an SLC official also confirmed that Hathurusingha is also due to visit Dhaka on Saturday, presumably in order to debrief and finalise his release from the BCB. He had signed on with Bangladesh until the 2019 World Cup, but eventually agreed to take a job with his home country, following several approaches from SLC. He had been Sri Lanka's A team coach, and an assistant coach with the national team, before his relationship with a previous SLC administration soured in 2010.