Rajasthan Royals' Zubin Bharucha helped Sri Lanka prepare for India series: Sanath Jayasuriya
Sri Lanka's interim head coach Sanath Jayasuriya revealed on Wednesday that he arranged a six-day workshop with Rajasthan Royals' director of high performance Zubin Bharucha for his players ahead of the home white-ball series against India.
Bharucha, a former Indian cricketer, leads the RR's high-performance centre in Talegaon, a village 100km away from Nagpur. He's often credited for the improvement in power-hitting techniques and ingenuity of RR's promising youngsters, Yashasvi Jaiswal, Riyan Parag, and Dhruv Jurel.
Jayasuriya said he worked on "new techniques", approaches and shot-making with the players.
"We just started the sessions just after the LPL (Lanka Premier League). Most of the players are playing the LPL, so they were busy with cricket and what we wanted (for them) was to play cricket as much as possible," Jayasuriya was quoted as saying by PTI.
"We got Zubin from Rajasthan Royals and we had about six days of work and also with the other cricketers who finished with the LPL. I hope the players have learnt what you (management) wanted to do in terms of practice and their technique. It is important to learn as international cricketers new techniques, new approaches and shot-making to be effective," he added.
Sri Lanka will host India in three T20Is and as many ODIs beginning on July 27 (Saturday). The T20Is will be played in Pallekele, while the ODIs will follow in Colombo.
"We have to take maximum advantage" - Sanath Jayasuriya on Rohit, Kohli and Jadeja's absence
Earlier in the day, Associated Press quoted Jayasuriya asking Sri Lanka to maximize India's loss Rohit Sharma, Virat Kohli and Ravindra Jadeja, who retired after the 2024 T20 World Cup.
“Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli are best players in the world. Looking at their talent and the kind of cricket they have played we all know where they belong, along with Jadeja,” Jayasuriya said. "Their absence will be loss to the Indian team and we have to take maximum advantage out of that.”
The first T20I between India and Sri Lanka will kickoff at 7pm IST in Pallekele.