Special status for Malinga once again
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Care for a banana? Slinger Lasith Malinga was given permission by SLC to continue playing in the ongoing IPL
At the time of writing, the World Cup squad has been selected and there is a kind of mysterious silence regarding the availability of Lasith Malinga–a key player.
There was speculation, fuelled by some of his comments, that he will retire from the game if he is not given the captaincy.
Sri Lanka Cricket confirmed today that he has written to the board asking to be allowed to continue playing for Mumbai Indians until their goose is cooked in the IPL. Ominously, there is no mention of what will happen after May 12.
The World Cup selectees are expected to be at a three-day camp at Maduru Oya from Monday. That will be followed by a five-day training camp at Dambulla. Then comes the take off to Heathrow on May 5.
The board is obviously placed in an embarrassing situation by this player’s antics earlier and requests, now. As Malinga is a World Cup selectee, he must participate in these camps. There must be one rule for all fifteen players. You cannot, and must not, concede special status to a player.
The much-touted view is that Malinga is bad for team discipline and that he is a divisive, polarizing personality. In the light of all this, Malinga should not have asked for exception from the camps. After all, bonding is one of the main features of this three-day camp.
On many occasions during his colourful, controversial career, Malinga has tried to set different rules for himself. When he cried off from playing in certain formats, he was allowed to do so. Contrast this situation with that of Kevin Pietersen’s. When the latter made a similar request to the ECB, he was told in no uncertain terms, that he either played all three formats or none. Pietersen followed the ECB diktat.
Will the SLC bend over backwards once more to please maverick Malinga.
The Board will be left with considerable egg on their face if after all the overtures and accommodations, Malinga finally decides that he has had enough of Sri Lanka cricket.
Squad: Dimuth Karunaratne (captain), Avishka Fernando, Lahiru Thirimanne, Kusal Perera, Kusal Mendis, Angelo Mathews, Dhanajaya de Silva, Jeffrey Vandersay, Thisara Perera, Lasith Malinga, Isuru Udana, Suranga Lakmal, Nuwan Pradeep, Jeevan Mendis, Milinda Siriwardana