Lasith Malinga, Gunaratne join Mumbai Indians squad

The Mumbai Indians camp have receievd a major boost in the form of Sri Lankan duo Lasith Malinga and Asela Gunaratne. The two Sri Lankan players had missed the first match of the MI side due to their national commitments. Mumbai Indians played the Rising Pune Supergiant in their opening match of the season and had ended up losing by 7 wickets in the Maharashtra derby.

At the same time, Lasith Malinga and Asela Gunaratne were with the Sri Lankan team that was playing the Bangladeshi side in the second match of the two-match T20I series in Sri Lanka. While Sri Lanka lost the match, Malinga was in top form as he bagged his first ever T20 hat-trick.

He was named as the Player of the Series as well. Clearly, his arrival will boost the morale of the Mumbai Indians camp. As per the tweets by a renowned administrator of the Island Cricket, both Gunaratne and Malinga will be available for selection for the match against the Kolkata Knight Riders.

In his tweet, he wrote, “Lasith Malinga and Asela Gunaratne have joined the Mumbai squad, available for selection for the match against Kolkata on 9th April. #IPL”.

Lasith Malinga and Asela Gunaratne have joined the Mumbai squad, available for selection for the match against Kolkata on 9th April. #IPL

— Daniel Alexander (@daniel86cricket) April 8, 2017

Mumbai Indians will play the Knight Riders on Sunday (April 9) in the first home game for the Mumbai Indians at the Wankhede Stadium. Lasith Malinga has been a perennial superstar for the Mumbai franchise and has been a proud holder of the Purple Cap as well.

He had missed the tournament last year and would like to make amends for that. In the 98 matches that he has played in the IPL, he has 143 wickets to his name with an average of 17.80 and a strike rate of 16. He has an economy of 6.87. On the other hand, this will be Gunaratne’s first hand taste of the IPL. His heroics in international cricket earned him a contract this year.