Trying To Bring Malinga Back For Pakistan T20Is: Graeme Labrooy

Sri Lanka’s Chairman of Selectors, has said that fast bowler Lasith Malinga will be back for the three-match T20I series against Pakistan that gets underaway after the upcoming ODIs in UAE.

Malinga has struggled since his return to ODI cricket in June this year, after a long layoff of 18 months due to a knee injury. He played the 2017 ICC Champions Trophy and the home series against India and Zimbabwe, but managed only 10 wickets in 13 games at an average of 62. He was subsequently axed from the ODI squad for the five-match series against Pakistan.

“We had a chat to some of the players who did not make this tour and were trying to see what their thinking was and then we shared our thinking. We are trying to bring Lasith back for the T20s,” Labrooy, who is in UAE to witness the current series told Cricbuzz. “We still feel that he can contribute in ODIs as long as he is on top of his fitness. We believe that he has got a part to play in our ODI cricket.”

Labrooy insisted that fitness of the players is a key area that the selectors were looking at. “We have stressed on the fitness. There are minimum standards set now. Players now need to get through a yo-yo test within minimum standards and their skin falls has to be less than certain standard. That’s one reason why we are not rushing Angelo Mathews. We want him 100 per cent fit with a long Indian tour coming up.”

This year, Sri Lankan cricket hit new lows with Test and ODI whitewashes to South Africa and India. They also suffered their first-ever ODI series defeat to Zimbabwe, before losing a Test match to Bangladesh for the first time. The Test series win over Pakistan on Tuesday was a shot in the arm for the Sri Lankans after some heavy defeats.

“I am glad for the boys. They needed the win very badly. Playing away from the pressure back at home must have helped. They struck to their guns and believed in their plans and delivered those wins. I hope they can build on that confidence and take it forward from here,” Labrooy noted.

After the series win, captain Dinesh Chandimal singled out the selectors for the win. Labrooy revealed the selection panel has assured the players of continued support which helped ease the pressure off them. “We basically told them that once we identify them, we will continue to back them. No point of shoving them in and out. If they were selected to play in a Test match or an ODI, they are good enough and we will continue with the identified lot as long as possible and give them a fair chance of performing rather than letting them play one or two innings and replace them with somebody else. That’s one confidence we gave the team,” Labrooy said.

“Our ideas is to give them six innings continuously and then they’ve got to fight for their place. If somebody is a middle order batsman, he will remain in the middle order. Just because we want to strengthen the batting, we won’t shuffle the players up and down the order,” concluded Labrooy.

Courtesy : cricbuzz