The International Cricket Council has announced the postponement of the 2020 ICC T20 World Cup by 12 months with the spread of the COVID-19 pandemic. With this rescheduling, there arises an interesting question, will Lasith Malinga be a part of Sri Lanka’s plans for 2021 T20 World Cup?
ICC Men’s T20 World Cup 2020 postponed
The 36-year-old veteran retired from the ODI format last year and has been captaining the national T20 team since January 2019. One of the legends of the game, Malinga is the highest wicket taker in T20Is and the only player to breach 100 T20I wickets so far.
Malinga hinted about his retirement in 2019 saying, “I’ve already retired from Tests and ODIs. Now whatever is required for SL cricket. If they say it’s enough for me now, then I’ll be really happy to retire from T20s also”
He also added, “My only target is to play the qualifying round in the T20 World Cup. If Sri Lanka qualify for the knockouts, I would never mind retiring any time after that.” Sri Lanka has to qualify for the Super 12 round of the next T20 World Cup after finishing outside of the Top 8 teams in the T20I rankings during the stipulated period of consideration.
If he is to retire after the next T20 World Cup, he will be 38 years old by then. However, the T20 World Cup winning captain showed the world that he still has the fire inside him with his heroics in the 2019 IPL final and another 4 wickets in 4 consecutive balls against New Zealand. Since then, the seamer has produced only 3 wickets in 7 T20Is.
Sri Lanka to host postponed Asia Cup in June 2021
Sri Lanka T20I team under the captaincy of Lasith Malinga has had a terrible record in past couple of years. In the 15 T20I games Malinga has led the team, Sri Lanka has had one washout, lost 13 and won just 1 game (vs New Zealand at Pallekele). But the burden of these losses shouldn’t be solely on the skipper’s shoulders as almost all the players have failed to consistently perform at the international stage for Sri Lanka in T20Is in the last two years.
| Sri Lanka under the captaincy of Lasith Malinga since 2019 January | |
| Opposition | Result |
| New Zealand | Lost 0-1 |
| South Africa | Lost 0-3 |
| New Zealand | Lost 1-2 |
| Australia | Lost 0-3 |
| India | Lost 0-2 |
| West Indies | Lost 0-2 |
As far as training goes, Malinga wasn’t part of the 24-member Residential Training Camp training group which was held from the 22nd of June to 2nd of July in Kandy. But he was back in action in the next training camp at the high-performance center at R. Premadasa International Cricket Stadium in Colombo, starting from the 21st of July.
No Sri Lankan player will be able to test their match-readiness at international level since there is a vacuum of almost 5 months in the international calendar for the nation. Sri Lanka’s scheduled T20I series against South Africa, India and the Asia Cup were canceled due to COVID-19 pandemic and there are no T20Is scheduled in the near future too. However, Malinga will have a chance to evaluate his fitness and match readiness in the upcoming IPL tournament at the highest level which will be starting from the 19th of September.
Photos : #TPTopShots – Lasith Malinga
Judgement of where he is at as a player in the upcoming IPL may be a deciding factor on his plans to continue or retire from international cricket.
Another factor is the SLC think tank. The head coach and selectors may think of building a team for the future and whether Lasith Malinga will be part of those plans is questionable. Having to play two World Cups within 12 months (If Sri Lanka qualifies for the 2022 T20 World Cup), Sri Lanka might run out of time to groom another player in the team to fill in the massive boots of Malinga.
Will he play the 2021 T20 World Cup? Will he retire before that? Or does the veteran have the hunger to prolong his career until the 2022 World Cup? Only time will answer these questions. One thing is for certain, it would be a pity if he does not get the farewell he deserves.
