Lasith Malinga hints at retirement before the World Cup in players' WhatsApp group

Sri Lanka Cricket is already going through a lot of turmoil. With the World Cup approaching, things don’t seem to be improving for them at all. The change of captaincy over the last couple of years have been so frequent and even for the mega event, they removed Lasith Malinga from the helm to appoint Dimuth Karunaratne as the leader who last played an ODI for his country back in 2015 World Cup.

Possibly disappointed by the captaincy snub, Malinga has now hinted at retirement even before the World Cup. According to Deccan Chronicle, he had a call with the chief selector Asantha de Mel who asked him about his availability without guaranteeing captaincy.

An hour after the call on Wednesday, at 11.22 AM, Malinga sent a message to the players’ group in the Sinhala language which read, “api bima naevata piyava gaeniata samat ve tanapativarayet. deviyan vaanse mata pitupasin ma sahaya kala siyalu denatama asirvada,” (which translates to, “we won’t be able to meet again on the ground. God bless to everyone who was behind me and supporting me. Blessings.”)

Playing for Sri Lanka is more important

“Not sure what he means but hints out of pulling out. Malinga should have known that playing for the country is more important than the captaincy. He lost 13 out of 14 matches he captained,” the top official close to the developments said.

However, one of the sources also went on to add that Malinga is likely to be included in the initial squad for the World Cup and if he pulls out, then SLC has enough time to name his replacement. “Will have enough time to replace him, if he is selected but back out. the source said.

Also, the idea of SLC was to first name the team for the mega event and then decide on the captain later. But the speculations in the media forced them to announce the leader first. The selectors and the new captain Dimuth Karunaratne were scheduled to meet at 9 AM on Thursday where they were going to pick the 15-man squad and then send it to the Sports Minister Harin Fernando for his approval.

Here’s the picture of the message:

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