Sanath Jayasuriya lauds Kohli’s dedication and Ashwin’s improvement

“Virat is a dedicated player. He practices and trains hard before every match. He is always concentrating on his game and that is what you need,” Jayasuriya told reporters on the sidelines of a book release in Mumbai.

“He is a very professional cricketer. You have a big chance of performing well when you do all the hard work before the match,” Sri Lanka’s chief selector added.

Ashwin is now the top all-rounder in the ICC Test rankings.

“As an off-spinner, Ashwin has improved a lot and as a batsman too he is doing well which is good for India. He is bowling well and always wants to come up with new strategies which is working well for him,”Jayasuriya said.

Sri Lankan cricket is undergoing a transitional phase post the retirement of several stalwarts.

“It is very difficult to replace players like (Kumar) Sangakkara, (Mahela) Jayawardene and (Tillakaratne) Dilshan. They had experience of 15-16 years. That was a big task when they appointed me chairman of selectors (in April). I took the risk and we did well against Australia at home and won the Test series 3-0,” he said.