Malinga appointed Sri Lanka's bowling strategy coach for the white-ball series against Australia

Lasith Malinga, the 2014 T20 World Cup-winning captain of Sri Lanka, declared his retirement from all forms of cricket. Malinga, who is known for his toe-crushing yorkers, has twice claimed four wickets in four deliveries in international cricket. Malinga made his Test debut against Australia in July 2004. Malinga made his first ODI appearance 16 days after his Test debut.

On Thursday, Sri Lanka appointed Lasith Malinga as their “bowling strategy coach” for the eight one-day matches against Australia that begin next week. The 38-year-old’s skill and experience, according to Sri Lanka Cricket, would be important for the three T20 matches and five one-day internationals to be played in Colombo and Kandy. Malinga will provide tactical insight and technological knowledge to improve the on-field implementation of strategic initiatives, the board added.

Sri Lanka Cricket believes Malinga’s enormous experience and famous death-bowling expertise, particularly in the T20 format, will be invaluable to the side in this crucial series. In July 2019, Malinga announced his retirement from ODI cricket, and in March 2020, he announced his retirement from T20 cricket. He took 338 ODI wickets and 107 T20 wickets in addition to 101 Test wickets. The Australian team arrived in Colombo on Wednesday night for the first time in six years for an all-format series against Sri Lanka. They will also play two Tests, one in Galle and the other in Colombo.

Must Read: Ravi Shastri Picks the ‘Finisher’ for Team India in T20 WC 2022 says, ‘Need a Keeper Who’ll do MS Dhoni’s Role’:

Sri Lanka appoint Lasith Malinga as Bowling Strategy coach

Meanwhile, Rumesh Ratnayake has been selected as Sri Lanka’s interim coach for the upcoming tour to Australia. The former Sri Lanka pace bowler will not accompany the rest of the team to Australia. Instead, because he is still in isolation after testing positive for Covid-19, he will join before the first T20I. On Wednesday, SLC confirmed the squad for the tour, with Danushka Gunathilaka and Kusal Mendis making their comebacks after their one-year bans were lifted earlier this month, while Niroshan Dickwella was left out.

“Malinga, during the tour, will support Sri Lanka’s bowlers, providing tactical insight and technical expertise to help the on-field execution of strategic plans. Sri Lanka Cricket is confident that Malinga’s vast experience and renowned death-bowling expertise, especially in the T20 format, will help the team immensely going into this all-important series,” said the SLC in a statement.

Malinga, the former captain of Sri Lanka’s ODI and T20I teams, including in their 2014 Men’s T20 World Cup victory in Bangladesh, had worked as the bowling mentor of five-time IPL champions Mumbai Indians before returning to their triumphant 2019 campaign as a player and recently served as the bowling coach for Rajasthan Royals in the side’s finish as runners-up in IPL 2022.

Sri Lanka will be playing T20Is against Australia on June 7, 8 and 11 at R. Premadasa Stadium in capital city Colombo (first two matches) and Pallekele International Cricket Stadium in Kandy (last match). The two teams will also play five ODIs on June 14, 16, 19, 21 and 24, with the first two matches in Kandy followed by the last three matches in Colombo.

Sri Lanka will host Australia for three T20Is, five ODIs and three Tests. Cricket Australia had been monitoring the ongoing unrest in the island, sparked by an economic crisis, but they were always confident the tour would go ahead as planned.Sri Lanka’s Matheesha Pathirana and Nuwanidu Fernando earned maiden call-ups for the T20I series, while there was no place in the team for allrounder Dhananajaya de Silva or wicketkeeper batters Dinesh Chandimal and Niroshan Dickwella, all of whom played a key role during Sri Lanka’s 1-0 win in the two-Test series in Bangladesh last month.

Pathirana, 19, earned a call-up on the back of an impressive stint with Chennai Super Kings, in the IPL. While he played only three matches, his unorthodox action turned a lot of heads.