Sri Lanka’s 1996 World Cup-winning opener Sanath Jayasuriya requested India to assist in constructing an international cricket stadium at Jaffna at a meeting with Prime Minister Narendra Modi here on Sunday
Since there are a lot of cricketing talent in Jaffna, I asked Honourable Prime Minister if he could help us build this facility in Jaffna. That he would discuss with his team and certainly come back to us soon,’ said Sanath Jayasuriya, 55, now the coach of the Lankan side
Jayasuriya with World cup winning Lankan team members, including Aravinda de Silva, Chaminda Vaas and Marvan Atapattu who met Modi.
Here with Sri Lanka, ever since the International Cricket Council (ICC) gave Sri Lanka the hosting rights of the 2026 T20 World Cup together with India, the government there and Sri Lanka Cricket (SLC) have been in search for new facilities. Sanath Jayasuriya however accepted that it would not be possible for them with the country still recovering from its economic crash.
It’s almost impossible for us to get it done. It is very difficult as a country, as a Sri Lanka Cricket Board. We have been able to put a system in place. What I mean is, we are only a couple of steps away, provincial coaches in Jaffna, (also) district coaches, so we have a system.
Jaffna has a lot of schools doing the cricketing bit. The (cricketing) culture is there. However, to take it to the next level, we need to engage more with the international cricketers and we need India for that, Sanath Jayasuriya said.
There is currently no regional team participating in Sri Lanka’s first-class circuit — even though one of the highest-ever one-day international wicket-takers, Muttiah Muralitharan, and numerous other players of Tamil ethnicity have played for the country.
Jaffna, the capital of Lanka’s Northern Province, needs sporting infrastructure and continued: “We have the grounds down south — Colombo, Hambantota, Dambulla, Pallekele — and we don’t have them in the north. That was the time that erupted into 30 years of turmoil. Now people need to link both the north and the south and that is being handled differently.
And the most ideal way is through sports. We have been busy doing lots of stuff. But this involved only every chance of bringing people nearer and nearer along with each other, if we build an international stadium in Jaffna. They won’t feel left behind.”
Jaffna was the headquarters of the separatist group LTTE, and played a major role in a decades-long civil war with the Lankan government during the 1980s. To help bring the civil war to an end, India had sent in a peacekeeping force.
The people of Jaffna are passionate about their sport and it is high time we had an international standard stadium here,he said. They are also a sports-loving crowd like all Sri Lankans, and love the game. Yined these peoples need oportunidade too.
Highlights
That is the reason why I started this topic and I hope it will go well. I have shoved a lot of people into the Sri Lanka team in the past However, I never advocated for an international stadium. I had never thought Jaffna needed a club before and made a case for it, said Jayasuriya.