There was an uncertainty of his availability in IPL as the 32-year-old Sri Lankan guy has been suffering from this injury during Sri Lankan’s tour to West Indies in November 2010 which has finally stopped him from playing Test Matches. The doctors of the Mumbai Indians team have advised him to take rest for another four months for his repeated injury.
Sri Lankan Cricket (SLC) doctors will now examine Malinga and on the basis of that it will be determined whether surgery is needed or not. Not only that the panel of SLC doctors will take appropriate step after providing match fitness grading on Wednesday, April 20 as reported by SLC Board.
Seeing the absence of Malinga in the Mumbai Indians squad the captain of the team, Ricky Ponting concluded that the team has back-up bowlers to take position of Malinga. Tim Southee, the New Zealand pacer, and Marchant de Lange, the South Africa pacer, are the two names Ponting suggested as potential replacements.
It has been also in news that the SLC Board has questioned Malinga as he has not taken permission to play IPL despite of his chronic injury. Moreover he had not followed board’s opinion before joining IPL and also to take part in team’s training session.
The bone bruise to his left knee has also barred Malinga from upcoming Sri Lanka’s tour of England as well as from the Caribbean Premier League and also from the home series against Australia. Sri Lankan leading pacer has also missed some of the matches on the eve of World T20 in India between March and April due to his recurring injury.
In spite of fitness issue, Malinga was forced to take part in some of the matches in World T20 tournament because of the absence of main bowlers. This became one of the reasons of defeat of the Sri Lankan team in the T20 series.
Malinga’s rare round-arm delivery of the ball creates uncommon strain on the joints of his hips and legs which are supposed to be the main causes for his chronic right knee injury. This injury increased more when he played a warm-up match against Afghanistan. His bone bruise injury is mainly described as “overuse injury” which occurred more in the footballers than cricketers.
Malinga, the IPL’s highest all-time wicket-taker, has flown back to homeland from India after completing all his medical tests in Mumbai.