Malinga Set to Consider Sri Lanka Future After India Series

Ace Sri Lankan fast bowler Lasith Malinga on Thursday (31) said that he will consider his future for the Sri Lankan team after the current series against India ends.

Malinga took his 300th wicket when he dismissed Indian captain Virat Kohli, but the 34-year-old has looked a shadow of his former self in the current series where he has struggled against quality Indian batting.

He has taken only two wickets in four matches and is returning after a knee injury which kept him out for 19 months.

“I’m playing after 19 months following a leg injury,” said Malinga in the post-match conference. “In the Zimbabwe and India series I couldn’t play well. I’ll see where I’m at after this series, and evaluate how long I can play given the way my body is.

“No matter how experienced I am, if I can’t win a match for the team and do what the team needs, there’s no point in me being here. I’ll see if I can make up for that 19 months and regain that form over the next three or four months. I’ll see the number of games that I get. If not I’ll have to consider the state of my body, and what is expected of me. If I can’t deliver that, then I’ll happily retire,” he added.

Malinga also said that Sri Lanka’s recent struggles are due to lack of experience. “When you look at other teams, you can think about how many of their players have played a lot of matches. If you take our 11 cricketers, how many ODIs have they played? I think we are lacking experience. Except for Angelo Mathews, Lahiru Thirimanne and myself, others have played very little. That’s why when a difficult situation comes and we’re playing against a good team, we find it hard to come out of that. Now we need to give these guys a place and experience until 2019. We need to be patient,”

The 168-run defeat was Sri Lanka’s heaviest loss at home. “In our earlier teams, you had players who had played a 100 ODIs, or at least 50 ODIs. We need that. Every other team in the world has that experience in their side. We need to get there. We need to give the young players some more matches and get them to the place we need them to be. That’s what’s important.”

-Yahoo Cricket