Sri Lanka appoint Thilan Samaraweera as batting coach till 2019 World Cup

Thilan Samaraweera played 81 Tests and 53 ODIs for Sri Lanka AFP

Sri Lanka cricket has signed Thilan Samaraweera as the team's batting coach till 2019 World Cup. Samaraweera moved to Australia after his retirement from all forms of the game in 2011. Since then, he has had few successful coaching stints, with the latest being for Bangladesh. Sri Lanka would hope for the best of results with the former player taking over batting responsibilities ahead of a crucial India tour.

Samaraweera's career

Samaraweera started as an off-spinner. In Muttiah Muralitharan's presence, he knew it would be hard for him to attain a permanent spot in the lineup. Since then, he concentrated majorly on his batting and made into the national side on the basis of consistent performances.

Samaraweera scored over 5,000 runs in Test cricket with 14 hundreds and 30 half-centuries. He was not very successful in ODIs and finished with an average of 27.80.

Samaraweera will join the team before they fly to Kolkata, the venue for the tour opener. India and Sri Lanka will play three Tests, followed by equal number of ODIs and T20Is.