Dilshan Munaweera recalled as replacement for Chandimal:
T20 World Cup winning captain Lasith Malinga has been given the task of ending Sri Lanka’s losing streak against India when he leads them in the fourth ODI at the R Premadasa Stadium today.
Malinga takes over the leadership of the team following the injury to stand-in captain Chamara Kapugedera who led in the third ODI at Pallekele which Sri Lanka lost to give India a winning 3-0 lead in the five-match series.
Malinga becomes the fifth player to captain the team during the Indian tour following injuries and suspensions that have left Sri Lanka changing captains like playing musical chairs.
Rangana Herath captained Sri Lanka in the first Test and gave way to the appointed captain Dinesh Chandimal for the next two. Upul Tharanga the appointed one-day skipper led in the first two matches of the ongoing series before a slow over rate saw him suspended for two matches. In Tharanga’s absence the captaincy passed onto Chamara Kapugedera for the third ODI. But after playing in that match Kapugedera has been ruled out of today’s game by back stiffness and the mantle has now fallen again on Malinga to resuscitate a struggling team and get them back into winning ways.
The iconic fast bowler will lead his country only for today’s match as Tharanga will be available again to captain in the fifth ODI on September 3 having served out his ban.
“In 2014, I got the opportunity to captain the national team. At that time Sanath Jayasuriya was chairman of selectors. Now Sanath is there again. Whoever has power believed that I can do something that’s why they wanted to give that opportunity to me for the next match,” said Malinga at the pre-match press conference yesterday.
“I want to do my best for my team and for the youngsters. We want to win the two remaining matches. That’s why I want to use my experience and give all the confidence to the young players. I feel it’s a good challenge for me. At the moment, we have lost a few matches, yes. I have played for the last 14 years for the national team, and I still feel we have good young players and a few experienced players also.
“This is the time we have to stand up and give confidence to the young players – that we are still good enough to play international cricket. I’m also really enjoying this challenge with a young team. People think we are not on top of the table, but I feel we can change that,” he said.
Malinga pointed out that the recent loss suffered by the team was partly due to the lack of experienced players in the side.
“The past Sri Lankan team had experienced players. We can see every other country that is playing national cricket worldwide has a high number of experienced players in their eleven. At the moment we haven’t got that luxury. But we’ve have a few talented young players in the team. That’s why we want to back them and give our experience to them. Then I feel they will perform better for us over the next few years,” said Malinga.
“There’s no shortage of talent and skill in our team, but there is a shortcoming in how we execute that. We need to fix our mentality. My main goal is to try and instill a mentality whereby players are able to deal with tough situations and persevere. If that is successful, we will be able to get a good result tomorrow,” he said.
The 34-year-old fast bowler who is one wicket away from capturing 300 ODI wickets accepted the fact that he has lost some of his pace and was now looking to add new dimensions to his bowling to keep him going for a few more years.
“I’ve played international and franchise cricket for the last 14 years. I’ve played every other country and every single player in national cricket. Now I’m 34. My pace is cut down. If you asked me 10 years ago, I didn’t expect this. But whoever is coming towards the end of their careers, there is failure. People talk about them not being fit enough, or not picking him,” said Malinga.
“I played with Zak (Zaheer Khan) in the IPL close to 3-5 years. He is a legend of the Indian bowling attack in previous years. We always talk with so many bowlers around the world. When I meet them I want to get their experience also because they are in the commentary box, they look at every single one of my body movements and my bowling action, and how I swing the ball.
“They have a good idea of how I’m going now. Every time I have an opportunity, we speak about my bowling action, and how I have to improve. Zak is more of a seam and swing bowler, and I want to learn more of that kind of thing over the next few years,” he said.
Malinga who restricted himself to playing only T20 cricket because of a recurring knee injury returned to fifty-over cricket during the Champions Trophy in June and said that he was feeling better and had no qualms bowling ten overs in the fifty-over contest.
“I didn’t play for 19 months because of my injury. I’ve only played a couple of series since then. Now I feel I am getting better. Everyone knows how major my leg injuries are. Now that my leg is getting better, I’m doing all the treatment and all the rehabilitation and the fitness also. I feel really comfortable to bowl 10 overs consistently and looking forward to the next ball,” said Malinga who hopes to play till the 2023 World Cup.
Sri Lanka has added Dilshan Munaweera to their squad as replacement for Dinesh Chandimal. “We’re not sure about Danushka Gunathilaka’s (shoulder) injury at the moment. We’ll have a look at the pitch and decide what kind of team to field,” said Malinga.
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