Malinga to retire from int’l cricket after T20 World Cup
Lasith Malinga. -Collected
||Desk Report||
Sri Lankan bowling legend and limited-overs captain Lasith Malinga announced on Monday that he is going to retire from international cricket after the after next year’s T20 World Cup in Australia.
In 2016, Malinga hinted that he may retire from T20s after the T20 World Cup 2016 in India next month. But he later postponed his decision and continued his international career.
However, the 35-year-old revealed that he may bring his ODI career to an end after the World Cup in England and Wales later this year. Malinga said that he would quit ODIs after the World Cup in England and Wales this summer before calling time on his career following the Twenty20 tournament, being played in Australia over October-November 2020, source Asian Tribune.
“I want to play in the T20 World Cup and then end my career,” Malinga said after the third T20 between Sri Lanka and South Africa held on Monday in Johannesburg.
The Lankan skipper has played in 30 Tests, where he has taken 101 wickets at an average of 33.15. He has also featured in 218 ODIs and picked up 322 wickets at an average of 29.03. As for T20s, Malinga has represented Sri Lanka in 73 matches and claimed 97 wickets at an average of 19.70.
Meanwhile, Sri Lanka, who started the tour with an unexpected Test series win, finally ended with the 3-match T20 series defeat. The visitors also face a humiliation while being whitewashed in 5-match ODI series. Lankans won the two-match Test series beating the hosts respectively by 1 wicket and 8 wickets. But after that South Africa whitewashed Lankans in 5-match ODI series, followed by T20 series. The hosts won the first T20 in a thrilling Super Over eliminator while defeated Sri Lanka in the second T20I by 16 runs.
