Malinga grateful to IPL for his cricket comeback

The charismatic Sri Lankan fast bowler, Lasith Malinga, felt disappointed by his country’ s board when he was not looked after well and did not get treatment after his knee injury, which could have finished his career.

Malinga claims that it was only because of the Indian Premier League (IPL) he was able to come back to the cricket fields again.

He sustained an injury in early 2008, which kept him out of the game, and, he was unable to play for Sri Lanka until August, 2009 and he pretended that could have been the end of his career.

He appeared in the IPL in 2009, got back his confidence by gaining rhythm and was able to grab 18 wickets representing Mumbai Indians. His performance brought him back in the limelight and he was selected to represent his country again.

"Because of the IPL I got a chance to come back to the national team", he said at a media conference in Colombo. "After the injury nobody looked after me and I was not offered a contract. The 2008 interim committee did not care for my well-being. But thanks to the IPL I didn't lose anything but I improved my cricket a lot. I'm saddened the way I was treated but not disappointed".

Malinga has announced his retirement from Test cricket and will be concentrating on the shorter versions of the game for IPL and his country. Earlier, Sri Lanka’s cricket board had asked all their players participating in the IPL to report back in preparation with the forthcoming tour of England.

Quite a few players left back as Malinga continued playing in IPL and informed the Board that he will be available for One Day Internationals (ODI) and T20 matches.

He reiterated that he was fit enough to play Test cricket but it will take a long time to recover if he suffers an injury again, while it is easy to recover if he gets an injury in an ODI or T20 match.

"My doctors in Australia had said that mine was a rare type of injury and that I would not be able to play again. But thanks to President Mahinda Rajapaksa's private physician, Dr Eliyantha White, who treated me, I was able to play for the national team again.

Malinga responded to undue criticism going on in the news that he was declining to play for Sri Lanka, as there was more money involved in IPL. He stressed that the retirement from Test has nothing to do with money, as he wants to concentrate on shorter phases of cricket and don’t want to grab an injury again, which can put him away from the game forever.

He has taken 101 wickets in Test cricket, 127 in ODIs and 35 in T20 cricket, while representing his country and he is only the third player to pocket 100 wickets for Sri Lanka in Test cricket after Muttiah Muralitharan (800) wickets and Chaminda Vaas, who has grabbed 355 wickets.

Malinga commented that it was a matter of great honour to play for his country and he anticipates a dedicated performance in the 2012 T20 World Cup and the ICC World Cup 2015.

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KUMAR SANGAKKARA, MAHELA JAYAWARDENE BACK LASITH MALINGA’S DECISION TO QUIT TEST CRICKET

Former Sri Lanka skippers Kumar Sangakkara and Mahela Jayawardene have endorsed paceman Lasith Malinga’s decision of retiring from Test cricket due to a worsening knee condition.

Malinga, who is playing in the Indian Premier League for Mumbai Indians these days, announced his retirement from Test cricket on Friday, April 22, 2011 and vowed to pay complete attention to just One Day International and Twenty20 cricket.

The injury-prone pacer had recently withdrawn his name from Sri Lanka’s upcoming tour to England as well. However, after being questioned by the Sri Lanka Cricket about his participation in the lucrative IPL, Malinga made the sudden move to bid adieu to the longest format of the game.

The fast bowler has been blamed for preferring to play club cricket over country. The slinging action bowler, however, clarified that he announced his retirement from Tests in a bid to prolong his career in the shorter version of the game.

Along with 127 wickets in 84 ODIs at an average of 26.84, the 27-year-old paceman has picked up 101 wickets in 30 Tests since making his debut against Australia in 2004.

Malinga claimed that although he had plans to quit Test cricket, the timing of his retirement made the situation awkward.

The former Sri Lanka skipper Kumar Sangakkara has stated that Malinga’s decision was in team’s interest while Mahela Jayawardene considered that it was the right call from the pacer from a personal point of view.

“While I was captain we tried to manage him as carefully and sensitively as possible during the past couple of years,” Sangakkara said.

“The truth is that Lasith is our best fast bowler in limited-overs cricket right now. If we forced him to play Tests we would be running the risk of losing him completely,” the Lankan wicket-keeper batsman added.

Sangakkara further said that Malinga’s presence in Sri Lanka’s ODI and Twenty20 set-up is a huge blessing. Considering Malinga as a team-man, Sangakkara further rubbished all allegations that the fast bowler quit Test cricket in order to extend his participation in the ongoing IPL.

Ensuring his full support to the fast bowler, Sangakkara made it clear that it is his injury problem which forced him to leave Test cricket.

Meanwhile, Jayawardene described that with a severe knee injury, it is pointless to risk Malinga for five-day cricket.

“If he breaks down then it will be bad for Sri Lanka. Some people have criticised the decision, arguing that he is being selfish. This short-sighted argument is very unfair given that he clearly has a chronic knee problem,” Jayawardene said.

The classy right-hander further explained that if Malinga had kept playing Tests despite injury, it could have put a full stop on his cricketing career altogether.

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Sachin Tendulkar and Mumbai Indians record impressive win over Deccan Chargers

MI 172/4 20 overs DC 135/8 20 overs

Mumbai Indians gave their team captain, Sachin Tendulkar, the perfect birthday gift as they trounced the Deccan Chargers in a crucial match of the Indian Premier League (IPL) played at the least favourite venue for the hosts, Uppal Stadium.

In four years the Chargers have hardly ever won at the venue and once again a capacity crowd was left disappointed due to a poor performance from the hosts, who allowed the Indians to post a big total of 172 before succumbing to a meagre 135 run total themselves.

The Indians opted to bat first and the opening pair of Tendulkar and Davy Jacobs got the team off to a flying start as they scored 47 runs in 5.1 overs before Jacobs fell for a well made 32 that came off a mere 20 balls. Tendulkar tried to up the tempo after his demise. However, the birthday boy fell to left arm spinner, Pragyan Ojha, after scoring 28 runs off 24 balls.

Ambati Rayudu and Kieron Pollard were soon sent back as the Indians wobbled at 70/4, the Chargers were revved up and looked set to choke the visitors for runs. The morale didn’t last for long and things changed at this stage as the Indians made an astonishing comeback through an unbeaten 102 run stand between Rohit Sharma and Andrew Symonds.

The two big-hitters laid into the hosts smashing them to all parts of the ground at the end of the innings, Sharma scored a dazzling 56 off 34 balls while Symonds smashed 44 off 33 balls.

The hosts were hit hard by the unexpected assault at the end of the Mumbai innings and captain Kumar Sangakkara tried to revive their hopes after an early loss of a wicket. However he failed to make most of his own start and perished for 34 runs as the rest of the batting line-up also failed to inspire much with Amit Mishra and Daniel Christian the only two batsmen to cross the 20 runs mark late in the order.

The listless batting performance saw the hosts end 37 runs short of the target. For the Indians, Lasith Malinga the man with the most potent yorker in modern cricket snared three wickets for a mere nine runs of four fantastic overs.

He was named man of the match as the Indians celebrated another important win and solidified their position in the league.

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SRI LANKAN STALWARTS SUPPORT LASITH MALINGA’S DECISION OF QUITTING TEST CRICKET

Two former Sri Lankan captains and members of the present team, Kumar Sangakkara and Mahela Jayawardene have jumped to defend fast bowler Lasith Malinga who was criticised by cricket fans and pundits in his country after he quit Test cricket owing to the condition of his knee.

Many experts of the game in Sri Lanka stated that Malinga made a selfish call and his decision was based around the notion that he wanted to make more money by playing in the lucrative Indian Premier League and other such T20 competitions around the world, which allow cricketers the luxury of making quick bucks.

The right-arm pacer released a statement last week in which he said that he was not fit to play in the longest format of the game, and both Sangakkara and Jayawardene stated that they were fully behind their Number one strike bowler. Malinga had endured great physical pain to represent his country in the last few years, especially after he was plagued by a knee injury.

Sangakkara spoke to Sri Lankan media where he stated that he knew well about the condition of Malinga and how long it took him to recover from a Test appearance he made against India last year. Lasith guided the hosts in the opening Test with a sensational five wicket haul, yet pulled out of the remainder of the series due to the bad condition of his knee.

"We were all well aware of the seriousness of his knee condition and while I was captain we tried to manage him as carefully and sensitively as possible during the past couple of years," Sangakkara wrote in his column in a popular Indian newspaper. "We obviously wanted him to play Tests, but when we asked him to play theIndia tour it took him two months to physically recover from that."

Sangakkara, who relinquished captaincy after the ICC World Cup 2011 Finals loss to India earlier in the month, stated that he does not believe that Malinga quit test cricket to concentrate on the shorter more lucrative varieties. He further added that the call was made by the fast bowler owing to his physical condition which was far from ideal.

Kumar added that Malinga had always given his best as a national cricketer and if it was not for the knee problems he would have played test matches, as he loves performing for his country in any situation.

The left-handed batsman and wicket-keeper, who is hailed as one of the best in the modern game claimed that he supports Malinga’s decision and hopes that as a result of it he will end up playing international cricket for many years.

On the other hand, another former captain and accomplished middle-order batsman Mahela Jayawardene, who was in charge of the Sri Lankan side before Sangakkara took over, also stated that it was unfair to criticise the call made by Malinga.  

Jayawardene added that just like other professions, cricketers should also be allowed to make a call on their careers and chose paths that suit their circumstances the best.

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SRI LANKA’S MAHELA JAYAWARDENE SUPPORTS LASITH MALINGA’S DECISION TO QUIT TEST CRICKET

Sri Lanka’s middle-order batsman Mehela Jayawardene has come out in support of fellow teammate Lasith Malinga's decision to quit Test cricket.

Earlier this week the pacer Malinga announced that he will not be playing in the longest version of the game.

Jayawardene while talking on the matter, stated that the phenomenal pacer took the right decision and it will help him prolong his cricket career.

“In order to extend his career he has to quit test cricket. In fact his target is the next world cup in 2015 and by bidding adieu to tests he has prolonged his career in shorter version of the game.” Jayawardene said.

According to insiders, Malinga has been carrying a knee injury and in order to save himself from doing more damage to his knee, the slingy pacer decided to bid farewell to five-day cricket.

Jayawardene reiterated that in today’s cricket the pacers have to face the brunt of hectic schedules which shortens their cricket career.

Malinga is currently the number one strike bowler for Sri Lanka and the Lankans will want him to play for as long as he can, for which it is imperative for Malinga to cut down his workload.

Earlier there were rumours in the media that Malinga had taken the decision to retire from Test cricket after he was criticized by certain sections in Sri Lanka Cricket, alleging that the player had opted to play the IPL (Indian Premier League) instead of representing the country.

However, Jayawardene brushed aside such rumours and insisted that the bowler had only taken the decision keeping his future in front of him.

The former vice-captain said that Malinga was prone to injury and during his time of captaincy he always had to calculate the amount of workload on the bowler to make sure that he would remain fit nonetheless, even after such a cautious approach he suffered prolonged injuries in the past.

“He had worked hard and made a fine comeback and is performing brilliantly. He has realised that he can't sustain that huge work load and perhaps has prolonged his career. I am very happy for him," said the Kochi Tuskers Kerala skipper, Jayawardene.

Slinga Malinga as he is knick-named sometimes made his test debut for Sri Lanka in July 1, 2004 against Australia, while in the same month he played his first ever One Day International for his home side against the United Arab Emirates.

So far in 30 Test games he has taken 101 wickets while in one-days he has played 77 games and taken 114 wickets.

Malinga has been equally devastating in the shortest version of the game, the Twenty20, where he has played in 29 games taking 35 wickets.

Considering his current form, he will surely be an asset for Sri Lanka in the next world cup which is scheduled to be played in New Zealand and Australia in 2015. 

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KUMAR SANGAKKARA TERMS THE NOTION OF LASITH MALINGA ABANDONING TEST CRICKET FOR IPL AS “NONSENSE”

Former Sri Lankan skipper Kumar Sangakkara has termed the speculations regarding Malinga's decision against Test cricket for the sake of IPL (Indian Premier League) as utter nonsense.

Sangakkara in fact supported Malinga’s decision, believing that it was a prolonged knee injury that forced Malinga to bid farewell to the longest version of the game.

"I don't think there was ever a question Lasith did not want to play Test cricket. He wanted to play in all three formats of the game. Unfortunately for him, his body was not able to stand the rigours of Test cricket,” he said while defending the ace bowler.

'Slinga Malinga' this week announced his retirement from Test cricket in a bid to prevent his knee problem from further aggravation.

However, his decision was marred by controversy in Sri Lanka as some suggested that he had taken this step after Sri Lanka Cricket (SLC) wanted him to leave the ongoing IPL and return home to tend to his knee before the Test series against the English.

With his retirement announced, Malinga now does not have to leave the IPL. However, Sangakkara reiterated that there was absolutely no chance of Malinga ever even thinking of abandoning national duty in favour of the IPL.

According to the left-handed batsman/wicketkeeper, the pacer Malinga had wanted to retire from Test cricket for a long time as he had been advised by his physiotherapists.

"His decision was not a surprise to me. He had spoken about it in January this year and looking at his long-term future for Sri Lanka, I think it's the right decision for him taken at the right time. I think this is the most sensible decision he can take at this time,” Sangakkara revealed while talking about Malinga.  

He also warned that had Malinga been forced to play Test cricket any further, Sri Lanka would have lost the fastest bowler in the history of Sri Lankan cricket to his degenerative knee injury.

He feels that now the pacer will be able to prolong his career which will enable him to represent Sri Lanka at least till the next World Cup which is scheduled to be hosted by New Zealand and Australia in 2015.

Former vice-skipper Mahela Jayawardene also supported Malinga’s decision to quit Test cricket and insisted that there was no controversy behind the pacer’s decision to retire from the five-day game.

Jayawardene also believed that retirement from test cricket will prolong Malinga’s cricket career in the shorter versions of the game.

The 27-year old Malinga is currently playing for Mumbai Indians in the ongoing season of the IPL.

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BCCI PRESIDENT SHASHANK MANOHAR SAYS THE BOARD IN NO HURRY TO HIRE NEW COACH

The Board of Control for Cricket in India President Shashank Manohar said on Friday that the Board is in no hurry to hire a new head coach for the team.

The BCCI president said that the India cricket team has no international assignment until June 1, 2011 so they are in no hurry to bring in a head coach. He however, did confirm that they are in the process of finding a replacement for Gary Kirsten who stepped down from the position after India’s successful ICC World Cup 2011 campaign.

“We are still in the process of doing so (finding a new team coach). There's no hurry as the team is leaving for the West Indies only on June 1,” said Manohar while talking to media reporters on Friday.

He also turned down any possibility of deciding on the matter in BCCI’s Working Committee meeting scheduled to be held on April 27, 2011. Manohar said that the agenda of Wednesday’s meeting would include various sub-committees’ reports.

Many names, including England head coach Andy Flower are doing the rounds as the best possible replacement of the South African. There are also talks that the BCCI may hire an interim coach for team’s tour of West Indies starting in June 2011 if they fail to find a fitting replacement for Kirsten.

The BCCI president also confirmed that they have reached an agreement with the Sri Lanka Cricket and their players are now available to their respective Indian Premier League franchises until May 18, 2011.

When asked about the Sri Lanka speedster, Lasith Malinga– who was called back by the SLC for faking a knee injury– Manohar said that he does not know about individual players.

Malinga excused from joining the national side for tour of England citing a knee injury so that he could play for Mumbai Indians in the remaining part of the IPL but the SLC called him back to join a rehabilitation program.

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EARLY EXIT FROM IPL MAY COST SRI LANKA PLAYERS THEIR SALARIES

Sources from Board of Control for Cricket in India hinted on Thursday that the Board may block the IPL salaries of Sri Lanka players if they leave the money-spinning T20 league in the midst of the tournament to meet their international commitments.

The source said that as per understanding between the India and Sri Lanka cricket boards, the players cannot leave their respective franchises in the midst of the tournament barring injuries. He further added that if SLC and its players did not honour their commitments, then the BCCI might not pay them their IPL salaries.

“As per the understanding between BCCI and SLC, Lankan players were to stay on till May 22. It was on the basis of that the teams had bought the Lankan players,” told a BCCI source to a leading India sports website.

“According to IPL rules, only those cricketers who are available for the whole season without injury are supposed to be paid the entire salary. We are telling the Lankan board that its cricketers' salaries would be blocked for now if they leave without honouring their commitments,” he added further. 

The sports ministry of Sri Lanka has ordered its players to come back home by May 5, 2011 to join the national team for the training camp for their tour of England starting from May 10. The Sri Lankan Lions have welcomed the Board’s decision and are willing to leave the lucrative Indian Premier League in the midst of the tournament.

Currently eleven Sri Lanka players, including Kumar Sangakkara, Mahela Jayawardene and Lasith Malinga, are playing for different IPL franchises. The BCCI had made an informal request to the Sri Lanka government as well as the cricket board but it is learnt that the islanders have decided to ignore the request and are stern to call back the players.

However, the Board officials refused to confirm any such news saying that they are in discussions with the Sri Lanka Cricket and it would be a bit early to comment.

The BCCI official asked the reporters to wait and watch over the developments however, he did agree that there was no signal that the SLC may change its stance.

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Angelo Mathews and Lasith Malinga out of Sri Lanka Test squad for tour of England

Sri Lankan pacers, Lasith Malinga and Angelo Mathews, are not part of the Sri Lanka Test squad announced for the tour of England.

Mathews is still recovering from a quad muscle injury due to which he was deprived of a spot in the World Cup Final and also from the ongoing Indian Premier League (IPL). Malinga’s fitness has been doubtful for the Test match for some time now. He last played a test match in a home series against India last year. Even then he did not play all three matches and rested for the second match. He has played only 30 Tests in a period of seven years and has been scarcely used by Sri Lanka to keep him fresh for the shorter formats of the game in which he has proved himself more effective.

Sri Lanka’s 16-member squad has four pace bowlers including Dilhara Fernando, Suranga Lakmal, Nuwan Pradeep and Chanaka Welegedara. Nuwan Kulasekara, who played in Sri Lanka’s prior Test series against West Indies, is not part of the squad for the tour of England.

While Lakmal has intimidated opponents in his debut Test series against the West Indies, uncapped Pradeep is known to have a hurling action similar to Malinga’s. Only one bowling all-rounder is in the squad.

Fresh faces int he squad include Lahiru Thirimanne and Dinesh Chandimal. Both are considered promising batsmen and have already played One Day matches on the international stage. Chandimal made his debut in an ODI tri-series in Zimbabwe last year as a wicketkeeper-batsman.

Tillakaratne Dilshan has been appointed the new Skipper of the squad for the tour of England, while vice-captain for the Sri Lankan team is yet to be decided. This will be Dilshan’s first assignment as a Captain in an overseas Test tour after the retirement of the magical right arm off-spinner Muttiah Muralitharan.

The departure timing for the tour has been a matter of debate because eleven Sri Lankan’s, including former Skipper Kumar Sangakkara and Mahela Jayawardene, are currently playing in the Indian Premier League. The English squad has similar scheduling conflicts, with seven of their members playing in the same league.

Earlier, Sri Lanka Cricket had asked players to report to Colombo by 5 May, 2011, five days before the team’s departure for England. The move was criticised by Muralitharan, who said that the players had earlier expected to play in the IPL until 20 May.

The finalized Sri Lankan squad is as follows:

1 Tillakaratne Dilshan (capt), 2 Tharanga Paranavitana, 3 Lahiru Thirimanne, 4 Kumar Sangakkara, 5 Mahela Jayawardene, 6 Thilan Samaraweera, 7 Dinesh Chandimal, 8 Prasanna Jayawardene (wk), 9 Thisara Perera, 10 Suraj Randiv, 11 Ajantha Mendis, 12 Rangana Herath, 13 Dilhara Fernando, 14 Chanaka Welegedara, 15 Suranga Lakmal, 16 Nuwan Pradeep

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DELHI DAREDEVILS SKIPPER SEHWAG CONCERNED ABOUT BATTING

Delhi Daredevils’ skipper Virender Sehwag is extremely disappointed by the performance of his batsmen in their second Indian Premier League (IPL) match against Rajasthan Royals.

The aggressive Indian opening batsman has voiced severe concerns over his team’s batting, which eventually resulted in Delhi’s second consecutive defeat in the competition.

Delhi’s team was thrashed by Shane Warne’s Rajasthan Royals, and the Daredevils could only produce a couple of individual batting performances.

David Warner scored a fine half-century at the top-order, and Venugopal Rao chipped in with an excellent 60 runs.

However, none of the other batsmen could show their magic in the game. The captain, who claimed to keep a lot of experience of facing international bowlers, also lost his wicket to Australian pacer Shaun Tait after adding just four runs in the total.

With only three batsmen crossing double figures, the whole team managed to pile up a total of 151, which eventually proved to be a small score on a pure batting track and the Rajasthani batsmen overwhelmed the target with 9 balls remaining.

It must be noted that Delhi’s side got all out on a total of 95 in their previous game against Mumbai Indians. The stunning Sri Lankan pacer, Lasith Malinga, picked up five wickets and eight Delhi batsmen failed to reach double figures.

Two consecutive batting collapses have troubled Sehwag a great deal, and the skipper could not hide his disappointment.

"To win matches, we need to bat well and put up a challenging score. I am really concerned about our team`s batting. Although Venugopal Rao and David Warner played well and Irfan hit a couple of boundaries in the end, we should have scored around 165-170 in order to win the match", Sehwag said.

With an inexperienced batting line-up, Sehwag knows that his own form is crucial for Delhi Daredevils if the team is to have any chance of stepping up in the league rankings.

"I have to score runs in the coming games. May be, if I start scoring runs, we can reach 160-170 consistently", the Nawab of Najafgarh added.

Meanwhile, the captain praised South African seamer, Morne Morkel, who returned with outstanding figures, conceding only 11 runs in his four overs.

The Delhi side is scheduled to face Yuvraj’s Pune Warriors in their next IPL 4 game at Patil Sports Academy ground, Mumbai.

The two successive defeats has put Delhi’s outfit into a ‘do or die’ situation, as they have to win their upcoming game, otherwise their chances in the Twenty20 league will begin to fade.

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