As per the reports, Lasith Malinga could miss the first part of the 2020 Indian Premier League for the defending champions Mumbai Indians. The star bowler will not travel with the team to UAE where the IPL is set to kick off from September 19. The reason behind the initial delay of Malinga is concerned as personal reasons.
Reports claim that Malinga’s father has been ill and might require surgery for the same in the coming weeks. The star bowler does not want to leave his side during this difficult time and has decided to delay his departure for UAE. Further, Malinga will be training in Colombo and is expected to join the team during the business end of the tournament which also includes the playoffs where his experience will become a huge advantage for the men in blue.
Malinga is the most lethal bowler in the end overs of a game. During the last year’s IPL final Malinga defended 8 runs against the mighty Chennai Super Kings after conceding 42 runs in his first 3 overs. Taking the wicket of Shardul Thakur on the last bowl of the game when the Super kings needed 2 runs to win from the last bowl. His final over performance sealed the victory for the Mumbai Indians.
The major key factor behind the decision of Malinga is due to the current quarantine protocol that is imposed by the Srilankan Government to quarantine the people entering their country for a mandatory period of 14 days to control the virus. Even if Malinga had flown to the UAE and returned at some point to see his father, he would have gotten stuck in the quarantine period that is imposed by the government of the country.
Malinga is one of the most valuable players in the IPL for the men in blue. The fast bowler would turn 37 on August 28 and is the second highest wicket taker in the T20 format only behind the Caribbean all rounder Dwayne Bravo. On the other hand, Malinga is the highest wicket-taker in the IPL with an unbelievable number of 170 wickets.
The lethal bowler joined the franchise of Mumbai in 2009 and has been officially retained by them in every season since then. However in 2018 he worked as a bowling mentor but in 2019 he was brought back as a play by the franchise as they had to pay INR 2 crore for it. Lastly, it turned out to be a masterstroke and proved to be a season winning investment.
IPL is yet to release the complete schedule of matches but it is confirmed that the defending champions Mumbai Indians will take on the Chennai Super Kings in the opener.
The last time Malinga had featured in a cricket match was back in March this year against the West indies in a t20 match.
Mumbai Indians have a variety of pacers in their list apart of Malinga and they are: Jasprit Bumrah, Nathan Coulter-Nile, Trent boult, Mitchell McClenaghan, and Dhawal Kulkarni. All founders include the likes of Kieron Pollard and mighty Hard hitter Hardik Pandya, it is the experience of Lasith that the team will miss in the initial stages of the game.