Published: Mar 16, 2016, 04:32 PM (IST)
Edited: Mar 16, 2016, 04:32 PM (IST)
Kolkata: Hinting that their ace pacer Lasith Malinga may miss their ICC World Twenty20 2016 Super 10 opener against Afghanistan, Sri Lankan skipper Angelo Mathews today said they are yet to get a ‘yes or no’ about his availability. “We are yet to get yes or no from physio. He will have net session tomorrow. We will test his bowling tomorrow and will wait. He bowled a couple of overs with short run-up. He will bowl with full run-up tomorrow and we will take a call,” he said. Full scorecard: Sri Lanka vs Afghanistan , 16th T20 Match, Super 10 Group 1, ICC T20 World Cup 2016
Concerned about his slow recovery from knee injury, the 2014 World T20 winning skipper handed the captaincy baton to the ODI and Test skipper Mathews just ahead of the tournament. Malinga also joined the team two days ago and is terribly short on match practice having missed the two warmups against New Zealand and Pakistan which they lost. He last bowled against UAE and made an impact with his 4/26 which was instrumental in their only win in the recently concluded Asia Cup T20 in Bangladesh.
Earlier, around 10 days back, Malinga stepped down as Sri Lanka captain owing to injury. SLC Vice President had said then, “He will continue to make himself available for selections,” de Silva said. It is speculated that the SLC management is unhappy with Malinga’s policy of selecting games and tournaments to play based on his recurring injury. He played just the opening match of the Asia Cup in which Sri Lanka fared very badly. The islanders eventually crashed out of the tournament losing to India, Pakistan and Bangladesh in what was their worse run in T20 history.”
