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Lions in IPL: Support Staff

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Sri Lankans in IPL 2022

Lions in IPL: Support Staff 

Wise Lions in IPL 2022!

We all know that there are 5 Sri Lankans in IPL this year but those are only the ones that will be playing. Asides from those 5 lions there are 4 wise lions who will also feature in this year’s IPL as coaches. Kumar Sangakkara, Lasith Malinga, Mahela Jayawardene, and Muttiah Muralitharan are the 4 Sri Lankans who will participate in this year’s IPL as coaches.  Now that we know who they are, let’s have a closer look into their roles.

Let’s start off with the legend Kumar Sangakkara! He has made Sri Lanka proud on numerous occasions during his playing days but he didn’t stop as he continued to make Sri Lanka proud even after his retirement from the sport. Kumar Aiya will play the part of head coach for the Rajasthan Royals this IPL 2022. However, this is not his first year in IPL as a coach as he played the role of director of cricket to the same team in IPL 2021 (staff, 2021) but had a forgettable one as his team finished 7th on a table out of 8 teams (Indian Premier League official website). Nevertheless, Kumar Aiya has only gotten into coaching recently so it’s too early to judge his coaching career just after one season. We all know that Kumar Aiya is a fighter and never gives up so he’ll be motivated to lead his team to the title of IPL 2022. What do you think? Will Kumar Sangakkara have a memorable IPL season this year? 

Now let’s move on to the yoker king, Lasith Malinga. Malinga isn’t new to the IPL by any means as he played a vital part for the Mumbai Indians throughout his IPL career. Lasith Aiya’s IPL career saw him feature in 122 matches and take 170 wickets still the most by any bowler in IPL history (Indian Premier League official website – results). This won’t be Malinga’s first time in IPL as support staff as he played the role of bowling mentor back in 2018 for MI (2018), this time, however, he will play the role of fast-bowling coach for the Rajasthan Royals. Can the yoker king teach the RR fast bowler the art of death bowling? And those deadly yorkers? Well, the team and the management will sure hope for it. 

Next up, we have another legend from Sri Lanka. Let’s see if you can guess him? I’ll give you a tip, he has 800 test wickets. Do you know who he is? Well, he is none other than Muttiah Muralitharan. Muttiah joined the Sunrisers back in 2015 as bowling coach and team mentor (staff, 2015) and since then has gone on to win the IPL in 2016 and become runners-up in 2018. This year he will play the role of strategy and spin-bowling coach for the Sunrisers. So will Muttiah use his daunting eyes and spin wizardry to shape the spinner of his team into world-class spinners? Well, he already has Rashid Khan!

Lastly, we have yet another Sri Lanka legend who will be a coach this IPL and he is the 3-time IPL winning coach (Team, 2021), Mahela Jayawardena. Jayawardena joined MI in 2017 as their head coach (staff, 2016) and started of his coaching career with MI by winning the IPL in his first season as coach. Since then he has gone on to win the title twice, once in 2019 and once in 2020 (Team, 2021). So, we can safely say Jayawardena’s coaching career in IPL is a successful one and he’ll be looking to win his 4th title this season. 4 titles out of 6 seasons will surely be some achievement. So can Mahela win his fourth title with MI this year? MI would surely want it. 

So, will Muttiah win his second title as a coach or will Mahela win his fourth? Well, if RR wins, it’s a double win as they have both Malinga and Sangakkara. So who among these 4 former Sri Lankan legends do you think will have the more memorable IPL season as a coach? Comment below. 

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