Reports: Mahela Jayawardene rejects Team India's head coach offer

The tenure of current Indian cricket team Head Coach Ravi Shastri is coming to an end after the conclusion of the 2021 T20 World Cup. And, the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) is now on the lookout for the man who can replace Shastri as the Head Coach of the Indian cricket team.

And, one of the names that is doing the rounds is that of Anil Kumble. It is to be noted that Kumble has already been the Head Coach of the Indian side before, but resigned from his post due to a fallout with captain Virat Kohli.

A report in The Indian Express has stated that before contacting Kumble for the role, the BCCI wanted to rope in Sri Lankan cricket legend Mahela Jayawardene as the Head Coach of the Indian side, but he declined the offer.

Why Mahela Jayawardene rejected the offer to become Head Coach of the Indian team

Mahela Jayawardene reportedly wanted to coach the Sri Lankan cricket team. Also, there is another hitch to the matter as well. Mahela Jayawardene is also the coach of the Mumbai Indians (MI) franchise in the Indian Premier League (IPL), and the BCCI rules clearly state that a person cannot hold another position when he is the Head Coach of the Indian side.

Mahela Jayawardene was one of the greatest batsmen of his era. In an international career that lasted almost two decades, the right-handed batting legend featured in 149 Test matches and 448 ODIs for Sri Lanka.

While he scored 11814 runs in Test match cricket, the master batsman also amassed a colossal 12650 runs in the ODI format of the game. In T20I cricket too, Jayawardene scored 1493 runs in 55 matches. Jayawardene has also scored a total of 54 centuries in international cricket, along with 7 double centuries as well. Also, Jayawardene has played 80 IPL matches and has scored 1802 runs at an average of 28.60. He has also scored a hundred in IPL cricket as well.

Mahela Jayawardene played his last international match for Sri Lanka on 18th March 2015, against the South African side at the Sydney Cricket Ground (SCG).