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Lasith Malinga – will he still be a force to be reckoned with in T20I cricket?
By Sa’adi Thawfeeq
When the national selectors picked a young side and chose a new Captain (Kusal Perera) and Vice-Captain (Kusal Mendis) for the three-match ODI series against Bangladesh, leaving out seasoned cricketers like Angelo Mathews, Dimuth Karunaratne, Dinesh Chandimal and Suranga Lakmal giving, the impression that they were building a team for the 2023 Cricket World Cup, the initial thought was that it was very brave move.
But when Sri Lanka were beaten in the first ODI by 33 runs chasing 287 and were then reduced to a dismal 141-9 pursuing 245 to lose by 103 (D/L) in the second by an experienced Bangladesh outfit, the alarm bells began to ring.
Head Coach Mickey Arthur went on record soon after the second defeat stating that stars like Angelo Mathews and Dimuth Karunaratne could make a return to the squad despite their axing.
“I think we just took the team in a direction. There’s certainly no door closed to any of them. Angelo and ‘Chandi’ are fantastic cricketers who are very much part of our Test unit at the moment,” Arthur said.
“That’s the balancing act when you are transitioning a team, how you get it right. We will keep tweaking that until you do it properly,” he said.
Sri Lanka Cricket CEO Ashley de Silva said: “Basically, as long as a player has not retired from a particular format and as long as they comply with the requirements of the selectors, they could be considered for selection. If the player is 100% fit and is agile on the field and performing in domestic cricket, he could be considered. Lasith Malinga had a chat with the selectors and they have indicated to him what is expected from him if he is to play again for the National team. We’ll have to wait and see.”
Chairman of Selectors Pramodya Wickramasinghe said: “We have not closed the door to any cricketer but when I spoke to Malinga he told me that he is keen to come back and play for Sri Lanka.”
“We also have certain standards on fitness, likewise from the Advisory Committee they have put out certain criteria for playing domestic matches; if Malinga conforms to those criteria and passes the fitness test, then when we sit down to select the team I will get the views of the Captain and the Coach and with the other selectors we will consider him. If he comes through these standards that have been set, then he can play for Sri Lanka again,” Wickramasinghe said.
Malinga, now 37, has not played for his country since 6 March 2020 against West Indies when he last captained Sri Lanka. It’s not that Sri Lanka had played many T20Is after that game. They haven’t. The next T20I series was also against West Indies in the Caribbean this year, but as Malinga had not trained with the National squad in the months leading to selection, he lost the captaincy to Dasun Shanaka who had successfully led Sri Lanka to a 3-0 clean sweep of the T20I series on their tour to Pakistan in 2019 and also led the Dambulla Viiking franchise in the inaugural LPL. Unfortunately for Shanaka there was a passport muddle and he was unable to go to the West Indies and lost the opportunity to enhance his position as T20I Captain.
With 2020 being a rather inactive year for cricket due to the outbreak of COVID-19, Malinga, who had retired from Tests and ODIs and made himself available only in the shortest format, distanced himself from the game and in January this year decided to retire from franchise cricket, thus ending a 12-year liaison with IPL champions Mumbai Indians.
On his decision, Malinga said: “After discussing with family, I think now is the right time to retire from all franchise cricket. The pandemic situation and the restrictions on travel will make it difficult for me given my personal circumstances to participate fully in franchise cricket for the next year and therefore it is best to make this decision now.”
Malinga is the leading wicket-taker in T20 Internationals, being the only bowler to cross the 100-wicket mark in a 14-year career. From 84 matches he has 107 wickets at an average of 20.79 and an economy rate of 7.42. His focus is to play in the ICC T20 World Cup in India in October 2021 and/or the one following it in Australia in October-November 2022.
The big question is whether Malinga will have sufficient time to prepare himself for the October 2021 event to be considered by conforming to the fitness standards criteria set for selection.
Following the tour to England, which he was not part of, Malinga has only six T20Is against India and South Africa and possibly the LPL (if it is held in August as scheduled) before the ICC T20 World Cup in India which commences on 18 October where Sri Lanka has to play three matches against Ireland, Papua New Guinea and Oman to qualify for a place in the Super 12s.
