Lasith Malinga under scrutiny as he calls Lankan sports minister "Monkey"

Sri Lankan fast bowler Lasith Malinga faced an investigation after he had called their country’s sports minister Dayasiri Jayasekera a “Monkey”. Jayasekara had said a day prior to Malinga’s statement that the Sri Lankan cricketers were just too fat to play cricket. Reacting after being mocked the Minister has initiated an investigation against the cricketer for breaching the Code of Conduct.

Digging a little deeper, minister Jayasekara said some Sri Lankan players had pot bellies that stopped them from moving around swiftly and that often they could not hold catches. He also said that a fitness test should be carried and any player with more than 16% fat in their body shouldn’t be allowed to play.

Malinga reacts

In an interview with a local media channel, Malinga was asked to react to the comments made by Jayasekara and he reacted quite vehemently as one would expect. The former skipper said that he doesn’t care about the criticism coming in from bench warmers like him. He compared this entire saga to that of a monkey entering a parrot’s nest and talking about the parrot’s nesting hollow.

“I don’t care about criticism from those who are simply warming chairs,” he said. “What does a monkey know about a parrot’s nesting hollow? This is like a monkey getting into a parrot’s nest and talking about it,” said the speedster.

Jayasekara hits back

Jayasekara defended himself by saying he had not mentioned Malinga’s name anywhere. “In my criticism of the appalling fitness levels of our players, I did not name Malinga, but he has chosen to put the hat on and attack me publicly.”

“He is now under investigation for making statements to the media in breach of his contract with Sri Lanka Cricket (board). In my criticism of the appalling fitness levels of our players, I did not name Malinga, but he has chosen to put the hat on and attack me publicly,” Jayasekera said.

He also added that these are the sort of players (pointing out at Malinga), who improve their fitness just 4 weeks before the commencement of the Indian Premier League. “These guys are not interested in playing for the country, they play for the IPL because of the money they get,” the expressed.

An embarrassing loss which doubted the quality of Sri Lankan cricket

Sri Lanka spilled some golden chances against Pakistan in the Champions Trophy group stage match and the lost the virtual quarter-final from a winning position. This is what eventually sparked this redundant row between Malinga and the sports minister.

The defeat to Pakistan disgusted one and all in Sri Lanka as their performance that day was of the lowest level. Chasing a target of 237, Pakistan were down and out, losing 7 wickets for 162 runs with Sarfraz Ahmed the last recognised batsman at the crease.

The Pakistani skipper showed great spirit alongside pacer Mohammad Amir as the duo added an unbeaten 75-run stand for the 8th wicket to register one of the most famous wins in Pakistan history and that knocked Sri Lanka out of the tournament.