By Srian Obeyesekere

Head Coach of Kandy Tuskers, former Sri Lanka captain Hashan Tillakaratne will be a heady lending weight to guiding the fortunes of the side at the forthcoming historic Lanka Premier League (LPL). Besides his sound experience as one of Sri Lanka’s toughest campaigners with the bat as a trademark occupier of the crease who formed the 1996 world cup winning team, Tillekeratne, now aged 53, will pack considerable coaching experience to the Kandy Tuskers as its head coach. He has been a major lynchpin in the country coaching apparatus driving young latent talent up the ladder in building a potential youth base in national cricket to feed the mainstream national team. Tillekeratne will indeed form the blending think tank impetus in dictating the progress of his charges in a Kandy Tuskers outfit led by the mercurial pinch hitting batsman Kusal Janith Perera.

Tillekeratne will be in charge of quite a strong outfit despite Kandy Tuskers having witnessed some last minute withdrawals of some top foreign players who will nevertheless be beefed up by the presence of Indians Irfan Pathan and Munaf Patel. Afghanistan’s Rahmanullah Gurbaz and Naveen-ul-Haq are also among the overseas players listed while Pakistan’s Sohail Tanvir, regarded as a key weapon in the bowling machinery.