Former Sri Lankan pacer Lasith Malinga is set to become the national cricket team’s fast bowling advisory coach after the high-profile Cricket Advisory Committee recommended his name to the Executive Committee of Sri Lanka Cricket (SLC).
The 38-year-old Malinga, who has played for Mumbai Indians for over a decade for the Indian Premier League (IPL), will oversee the Sri Lankan team’s preparations for the upcoming T20I tour of Australia, where the team will play five matches. The report in the island said on Wednesday.
While Malinga is one of the most successful T20 bowlers in the world due to his sling-shot action and a Sri Lankan icon, his appointment has reportedly not gone down well with many stakeholders of the game in the country.
The report said that while he was admired by millions of fans, “he was not the most liked person in the dressing room, as many Sri Lankan captains were concerned about his conduct”.
“It has been alleged that Malinga deliberately slowed the over-rate with the intention of suspending the captain, an allegation that the SLC has not investigated. At one time the playing conditions of cricket dictated that slow over rates would result in players facing fines and suspension for the captain. Since then, the International Cricket Council has amended the playing conditions and the captain has no longer been suspended,” the report said.
Sri Lanka won the ICC T20 World Cup in 2014 under Malinga’s captaincy, as he was filling in for suspended Dinesh Chandimal, but his overall record as captain remains poor. He led the country in nine One Day Internationals and all nine ended in losses. Under his leadership, Sri Lanka lost 15 out of the 24 T20 matches played.
The report added that the Cricket Advisory Committee, which includes stalwarts like Kumar Sangakkara, Arvind de Silva and Muttiah Muralitharan, had its objection to backing Malinga as a fast bowling advisory coach. However, since the recommendation had reportedly come from former captain and advisory coach Mahela Jayawardene, it could not be rejected, the report said.
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