Lasith Malinga may return to the Sri Lanka team for the forthcoming T20 World Cup[/caption]
After his ODI retirement many moons ago, and an outbreak of a pandemic and a resultant lockdown, here comes a hero probably for his last hurrah! Slinging sensation Lasith Malinga has been invited by the national selection committee to discuss the maestro’s future plans with the national team, the Morning Sports learnt last week.
“We will talk to Lasith soon. He is in our plans for the forthcoming T20 tours, including the T20 World Cup coming up in October,” the National Selection Committee Chairman Pramodya Wickramasinghe told the Morning Sports on Friday (7).
“We are also working out a long-term plan aiming at the 2023 (50-over) World Cup. There, our main focus is to adjust ourselves to forming an accurate average in terms of two main aspects. Those are the age and the fitness,” Wickramasinghe said.
Selectors to meet Malinga soon
“We have found out that every successful team has a specific average on those two aspects. Our plan is to set those benchmarks in our preparations,” explained Wickramasinghe who took over as new selection committee Head only last month.
“But Lasith is also in our plans. We always should not forget that he is one of the greatest bowlers in our country even in his present form. His records speak for that. There are two back-to-back T20 World Cups that are coming up, this year and next year,” Wickramasinghe added. “We are going to discuss our plans with him when we meet him in the next couple of days,” he added.
Available for T20Is!
Meanwhile, when contacted by the Morning Sports, Malinga said he is looking forward to the proposed meeting with the national selectors.
“I have retired from both Test and ODI cricket but not from T20s. I also am keen to know how the selection committee is going to get the services of a senior player like me for the national side. In my career, I have proved on many occasions that I can come back after a long break and perform well for my country,” he said.
After playing in a memorable farewell ODI in Colombo in July 2019, “Slingar” last played for Sri Lanka in March 2020 in a home series against the West Indies.
“An exceptional case”
“Since last year, nobody had spoken to me to find out my future plans. As a player, I have always respected the various policies of all selection panels that were there. They have those policies for a purpose. The present committee too could be having their own vision and plan. It is good if we can sit down and try to come to a common understanding as to how to move forward,” Malinga further explained.
Though the Wickramasinghe-led committee is likely to be extremely stringent on their age and fitness policies –they have allegedly omitted young and prospective players like Avishka Fernando from selection due to under-par fitness level—, it is also understood that they will not be faulted if they are to positively consider a player like Malinga as “an exceptional case”.
“We really know that Malinga is an exceptional player. And we also know that nobody is going to criticise us if we are to treat him that way,” added Wickramasinghe.