Sri Lanka doesn’t produce those champions of the past, laments Jayasuriya

Colombo, Feb 9 (IANS) Analysing Sri Lanka's recent poor run on foreign shores, former skipper and current chief selector Sanath Jayasuriya on Thursday lamented that in recent times, the country has failed to produce any of the champion cricketers of the past.

"I wouldn't say there's a dearth of talent but we don't produce those champion cricketers as much as we did in the past," Jayasuriya was quoted as saying by espncricinfo.

"I don't think it's a problem with the domestic structure or the school structure, because it's the very system that produced all those champion cricketers in the past. So, we need to assess this situation and find out where the problem is and correct it," said the southpaw, who amassed 13430 runs from 445 ODIs and 6973 runs from 110 Tests.

The 47-year-old Jayasuriya, who was once a part of the dreaded batting line-up comprising Marvan Atapattu, Mahela Jayawardene, Kumar Sangakkara and Tillakaratne Dilshan, said as international players, the islanders should be able to "adjust" and "play under any conditions".

"We should be able to play under any conditions, not just at home. There's no point giving excuses or blaming our domestic structure after we lose a series. Your success depends on how fast you adjust to these conditions but sadly we have taken too long to do that," he said.

"The problem I see here is not lack of talent but their inability to adjust quickly to situations and handle the pressure. You can't play cricket, if you can't absorb pressure."

In their ongoing tour to South Africa, the Lankans have only managed to win the T20 International series 2-1, but have been clean-swept in the Tests, and are presently 0-4 in the five-match One-day International (ODI) series.

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