Sangakkara and Jayawardene back Malinga’s decision to retire from Test cricket
Former Sri Lankan skipper Kumar Sangakkara and Mahela jayawardene spoke in favour of Lasith Malinga’s recent decision of retiring from the test format.
Malinga announced his retirement due to fitness issues, the speedster is currently suffering from a knee injury.
His retirement came in as a response to the recent controversy which involved him and the Sri Lankan cricket board.
Malinga is currently rendering his services for Mumbai Indians in the Indian premier league.
The issue that the Sri Lankan cricket board raised was Malinga's withdrawal from the test series against England due to his degenerative knee injury, whilst on the other hand Malinga was performing well in the IPL for the http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Mumbai-c820 Indians.
As soon as the Sri Lankan cricket board asked him to return home for the knee rehabilitation programme, the speedster said “Good Bye” to test cricket.
Participating in a test encounter requires endurance and physical fitness, putting the injury prone Malinga's career in jeopardy.
Sangakkara backed Malinga’s decision, believing that it will not only enhance the speedster’s career durability but it will also contribute to the Sri Lankan team’s betterment.
Mahela Jayawardene supported the decision by highlighting the personal motives and benefits behind the retirement.
Sangakkara said "We were all well aware of the seriousness of his knee condition and while I was captain we tried to manage him as carefully and sensitively as possible during the past couple of years"
Sangakkara also made a revelation that while resigning from captaincy he discussed Malinga’s future with the board.
As Malinga is a significant asset to team’s bowling arsenal, its high time for Sri Lankan cricket board to sensibly think over his future.
Malinga’s decision seems to be sensible since he did participate in the Test series against http://www.senore.com/Cricket/India-c750 despite his reservations and the series had its toll on him, eventually putting him out for a few months to physically recover from the tour.
Lasith is the best Sri Lankan fast bowler in recent history and the team should use his as efficiently and effectively as possible in both formats of limited over cricket.
Sangakkara clearly rejected the recent allegations on Malinga, accusing him of chooseing money over national pride as he quit test cricket and started focusing on his IPL performance.
Based on personal interaction with Lasith, Former skipper inferred that Lasith is a sincere human being and is highly committed to his country and job.
Sangakkara said “Lasith is a human being and, while he is totally committed to http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Sri-Lanka-c758, he also has responsibilities as a husband and, one day hopefully, a father. If his career is ended by injury, who is going to look after him and his family? When he
suffered the injury the first time he was stripped of his central contract within about six months and left with no income.”
Jayawardene also added that beside of being a professional cricketer Malinga also enjoys a healthy personal life and one has the right to think and look after his personal interests as well.
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