He is famous for leading India to win the ICC Cricket World Cup in 2011. And during his tenure, South Africa topped the Test rankings. Most recently, he served as a consultant for Namibia during the 2026 ICC Men’s T20 World Cup.
As a player, Kirsten was a stalwart for South Africa, scoring over 14,000 international runs and becoming the first player to reach 100 Test matches for her country.
Kirsten hopes to join the ranks of non-Sri Lankan coaches who have had a significant impact on Sri Lanka’s cricketing history. This tradition includes Dav Whatmore organizing the historic 1996 World Cup win. Tom Moody and Trevor Bayliss, who led the team to the World Cup finals in 2007 and 2011; And then there is Chris Silverwood, who was the most recent foreign coach after Sanath Jayasuriya took over as interim coach before taking over as permanent coach at the end of 2024.
The appointment comes at a critical time after the team’s poor exit from the 2026 T20 World Cup and represents a departure in the shift towards coaches with more local knowledge after the 2024 World Cup.
Jayasuriya, who officially resigned as head coach following the conclusion of the tournament, will now lead the high-performance centre. Sri Lanka enjoyed historic success at home in 2024 under his leadership, including their first ODI series win over India in 27 years, but their recent World Cup campaign ended in the Super Eight after disappointing losses to England and New Zealand.
Sri Lanka’s campaign has been characterized by competitive philosophies and the batsmen in particular seem to lack clarity about their roles. “The appointment of a new coach is part of Sri Lankan cricket’s efforts to revamp the structure of the National High Performance Center,” SLC said in a press release, adding that Kirsten will be tasked with establishing a clear path to success, among other things.
With the 2027 Men’s ODI World Cup set to be held in his native South Africa alongside Namibia and Zimbabwe, Kirsten’s deep knowledge of those conditions is likely to have played a part in his hiring as well, but SLC will be hoping his impact lasts longer and helps build a similar winning culture to the one he helped establish in India and South Africa.
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