Mumbai Indians might release Lasith Malinga for IPL auction

In the dramatic turn of events, Mumbai Indians might release Sri Lankan star Lasith Malinga for the IPL auction next year. There is a stark possibility that the franchises will be allowed to retain only three players for the next season. Also, the franchise possesses some of the superstars in their kitty which means that they have to take some tough decisions. However, the move seems to be a decent one given the form of the Sri Lankan stalwart in the last few months.

Malinga, a few years ago, was at the peak of his career in this format and has won so many matches from Mumbai with his bowling at the death. Though this year, the graph has gone down for him this year and has struggled for Sri Lanka as well. Recently, he was dropped from the ODI team after struggling against Zimbabwe at home which lost the series. He also endured a poor season in the Indian Premier League in the last edition and could only pick 11 wickets in 12 matches conceding runs at 8.84 per over.

Mumbai can also buy him back

While the franchise is almost certain to release Lasith Malinga given his fading form with the ball, they are not ruling out the possibility of him being brought in the auction again. “As per the rules, Every team can preserve maximum four to five players, Mumbai Indians team management is on the opinion to release the Slinga Malinga. The Mumbai Indians can also buy him back, but as far as the auction is concerned, it looks like Lasith Malinga will find himself in the pool of players up for grabs,” the source close to Mumbai Indians was quoted as saying by Cricket Age.

The Governing Council of IPL is all set to meet the franchise owners on November 21 to discuss the retention policy ahead of the auction next year. While some of them are in favour of retaining some players, few owners want the full auction which means the likes of MS Dhoni and Virat Kohli will come under the hammer. The final decision is most likely to be made in the meeting and as of now, it seems that they would allow each team to retain three players and not five.