Sri Lankan stalwarts support Lasith Malinga’s decision of quitting test cricket – Cricket News
Two former Sri Lankan captains and members of the present team, Kumar Sangakkara and Mahela Jayawardene have jumped to defend fast bowler Lasith Malinga who was criticised by cricket fans and pundits in his country after he quit Test cricket owing to the
condition of his knee.
Many experts of the game in http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Sri-Lanka-c758 stated that Malinga made a selfish call and his decision was based around the notion that he wanted to make more money by playing in the lucrative Indian Premier League and other such T20 competitions around the world,
which allow cricketers the luxury of making quick bucks.
The right-arm pacer released a statement last week in which he said that he was not fit to play in the longest format of the game, and both Sangakkara and Jayawardene stated that they were fully behind their Number one strike bowler. Malinga had endured
great physical pain to represent his country in the last few years, especially after he was plagued by a knee injury.
Sangakkara spoke to Sri Lankan media where he stated that he knew well about the condition of Malinga and how long it took him to recover from a Test appearance he made against India last year. Lasith guided the hosts in the opening Test with a sensational
five wicket haul, yet pulled out of the remainder of the series due to the bad condition of his knee.
"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 wrote in his column in a popular
Indian newspaper. "We obviously wanted him to play Tests, but when we asked him to play the http://www.senore.com/Cricket/India-c750 tour it took him two months to physically recover from that."
Sangakkara, who relinquished captaincy after the ICC World Cup 2011 Finals loss to India earlier in the month, stated that he does not believe that Malinga quit test cricket to concentrate on the shorter more lucrative varieties. He
further added that the call was made by the fast bowler owing to his physical condition which was far from ideal.
Kumar added that Malinga had always given his best as a national cricketer and if it was not for the knee problems he would have played test matches, as he loves performing for his country in any situation.
The left-handed batsman and wicket-keeper, who is hailed as one of the best in the modern game claimed that he supports Malinga’s decision and hopes that as a result of it he will end up playing international cricket for many years.
On the other hand, another former captain and accomplished middle-order batsman Mahela Jayawardene, who was in charge of the Sri Lankan side before Sangakkara took over, also stated that it was unfair to criticise the call made by
Malinga.
Jayawardene added that just like other professions, cricketers should also be allowed to make a call on their careers and chose paths that suit their circumstances the best.
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