Mahela Jayawardene
has resigned as Sri Lanka's Twenty20 captain, soon after his team lost
the final of the World Twenty20 against West Indies in Colombo. He said
he will remain captain of the ODI and Test teams until at least the end
of Sri Lanka's tour of Australia in January, and remains available for
Twenty20 selection.
"I had a chat to the selectors before this tournament started. I was
going to step down from T20 captaincy after this World Cup," Jayawardene
said. "I personally feel that for Sri Lanka going forward we need a
younger leader. It's a great opportunity for somebody to start in that
T20 format. I've spoken to the selectors and they were quite happy with
that choice."
Vice captain Angelo Mathews has been groomed for captaincy over the past
18 months, and is the obvious candidate to take the reins in the
shortest format.
Jayawardene, 35, had given up the captaincy in all formats in 2009, but
resumed leadership when Tillkaratne Dilshan quit the post in January
this year. In his second stint at the helm, Jayawardene has seen himself
as an interim captain until the younger crop of Sri Lanka players are ready to step into leadership.
In addition to Dilshan, Kumar Sangakkara has also led the side in
recent years, before resigning after Sri Lanka's World Cup final loss in
2011.
"I took over till the Australia tour, so I'll assess what I want to do after that," Jayawardene said.
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