Lasith Malinga ruled out of IPL due to knee injury

Sri Lanka fast bowler Lasith Malinga, who has been reeling with a persistent knee injury, has been ruled out of the IPL. The news came after Mumbai Indians’ medical team deemed him unfit for at least another four months. He is suffering from a bone bruise to his left knee.

This also means that Malinga will not feature in Sri Lanka’s forthcoming tour of England, as well as the Caribbean Premier League. Sri Lanka Cricket doctors will now assess Malinga to determine whether surgery is required. The fast bowler, who joined the squad a couple of days ago, returned to Sri Lanka after undergoing medical tests in Mumbai.

“Mr. Malinga will present himself before the SLC panel of expert doctors on Wednesday (April 20) and depending on the outcome of the said medical examinations, be required to face a match fitness grading, after which SLC will take the next appropriate steps,” a release from the board said.

The franchise has not yet made a statement either on Malinga’s injury or about a replacement, but Mumbai coach Ricky Ponting had earlier spoken about a couple of back-up options in fast bowlers Tim Southee and Marchant de Lange.

The bone bruise is classified an “overuse injury”, and is more common among Australian Rules football players than cricketers. Malinga has played much of his career with a similar problem in his right knee. That injury – sustained in 2008 – kept him out of the national team for 16 months, and ostensibly forced him to retire from Test cricket at the age of 27. Malinga’s rare round-arm delivery of the ball is understood to place uncommon strain on the joints of his hips and legs.

Malinga sustained the injury during West Indies’ tour of Sri Lanka last November, and has battled to regain fitness since then. He has repeatedly missed prospective recovery dates, and has played only one competitive match in the past five months – against UAE in the Asia Cup. Having stepped down from the T20 captaincy over fitness concerns, Malinga also flew home early from the World T20, when he aggravated the injury while warming up for the match against Afghanistan.

SLC, for its part, has expressed a willingness to work with Malinga on his recovery, though administrators have also been irked by “negative comments” recently made by Malinga regarding World T20 selection in the media. The board has said it will speak with Malinga about those public comments and take “suitable action” in the coming weeks.