Lasith Malinga has been appointed Sri Lanka’s bowling strategy coach for the five T20Is in Australia starting from February 11. The former pacer has worked as a mentor for Mumbai Indians in the Indian Premier League in 2018.
“Malinga, in his new short-term role as a specialist coach, will support Sri Lanka’s bowlers, providing tactical insight and technical expertise to help the on-field execution of strategic plans,” Sri Lanka Cricket said in a release on Wednesday (January 26). “SLC is confident that Malinga’s vast experience and renowned death-bowling expertise, especially in the T20 format, will help the team immensely going into this series.
“He was appointed by the Executive Committee of Sri Lanka Cricket in consultation with the Technical Advisory Committee of Sri Lanka Cricket. The appointment is effective from 1st to 20th February 2022.”
Malinga played 30 Tests, 226 ODIs and 84 T20Is before retiring as a legendary figure in limited-overs cricket. He is one of the four bowlers with more than 100 T20I wickets. “We have some very talented young bowlers and I am very excited about the opportunity to share my experience and knowledge to help them develop,” he said about his appointment.
Meanwhile, Rumesh Ratnayake has been named as the interim coach of Sri Lanka for the Australia tour. The former Sri Lanka pace bowler will not travel to Australia with the rest of the squad. Instead, he will join before the 1st T20I, as he is presently in isolation having tested Covid-19 positive.
SLC announced the squad for the tour on Wednesday with Danushka Gunathilaka and Kusal Mendis, who had their one-year ban revoked earlier this month, making a comeback while Niroshan Dickwella was left out.
-Agencies
Excited to be a part of @OfficialSLC setup again 🇱🇰
— Lasith Malinga (@ninety9sl) January 26, 2022
Thank you for the responsibility given to me as the Bowling Strategy Coach of the Australia tour
I’ll give my best and gladly share the experience and knowledge I gained over my 17 year long international career with our boys👊
