IPL 2019: SLC officially permits Lasith Malinga to play in the tournament

Lasith Malinga’s availability in the ongoing Indian Premier League (IPL) for the Mumbai Indians (MI) had become a talking point over the last few days. It all started when Sri Lanka Cricket (SLC) made it compulsory for its players to participate in the domestic One-Day tournament to be eligible for the World Cup. Malinga had then agreed to the condition and requested the board to inform the same to the BCCI and the Mumbai Indians franchise.

The Indian board had then slammed the SLC for its last-minute change in stance. Various reports surfaced about the matter stating that Lasith Malinga will be playing in the next two matches and so on. But now according to Cricbuzz, the SLC has softened its stance and has officially given the permission to the veteran pacer to play in the most decorated T20 league. Though it is still not clear, for how many matches he will be available.

MI wasn’t aware earlier

Earlier, the MI coach and the former Sri Lanka cricketer Mahela Jayawardena had cleared that they weren’t aware of Lasith Malinga unavailability. He had also assured that they will talk with the SLC regarding the same.

“If you read the entire thing, the tournament is for four or five days in April, so till that time, there’s availability. When we got him in the auction, SLC gave us his availability schedule, that tournament wasn’t part of that. So, there is a conversation to be made and once we get through that conversation we’ll let you know,” he had said.

It seems that all is well now between the two parties and the veteran finally will come back to where he belongs. He played the role of a kind of a mentor for the bowlers last year and is back as a player this season and will be extremely crucial for the team. With Jasprit Bumrah‘s workload set to be managed, Malinga can definitely play his role to perfection.

Here’s Mumbai Indians full squad for IPL 2019:

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