Sri Lanka Cricket (SLC) is all set to appoint legendary pacer Lasith Malinga as the fast bowling coach for the upcoming tour of Australia. Malinga, who has played 30 Tests 226 One Day Internationals 84 T20 Internationals, is regarded as one of the best pacers of all time. In his enormously successful career, he has bagged 101 Test wickets, 338 One Day International wickets and 107 T20 International wickets. Meanwhile, the Cricket Advisory Committee has recommended to Sri Lanka Cricket’s Executive Committee to name him as a consultant bowling coach for the upcoming Australia tour, which will begin from February 11 and consists of 5-match T20 International series.
If reports of The Island are to be believed, the appointment of Malinga has not gone down very well with all the stakeholders of the sport and Malinga remains a “polarizing” figure. The legendary pacer was not liked a lot in the Sri Lankan dressing room and several captains didn’t like his behaviour. Some allegations were also made against Malinga regarding intentionally slowing down the over-rate with the intention of suspending the captain.
According to the daily, the Cricket Advisory Committee, where Kumar Sangakkara, Aravinda de Silva and Muttiah Muralitharan are members, had some concerns in naming Malinga as bowling coach of the Sri Lankan team. Also, consultant coach and legendary batsman Mahela Jayawardene is the only one who has recommended the name of Lasith Malinga for the appointment as the bowling coach.
