Knee injury rules Malinga out of World T20
Sri Lanka have been dealt a huge blow with the news that kingpin fast bowler Lasith Malinga has been ruled out of the ongoing World T20 in India due to a knee injury.
The 32-year-old Malinga, who did not play in Sri Lanka's opening victory of the tournament against Afghanistan on Thursday, has not sufficiently recovered having been injured in November last year.
The right-arm seamer was still selected for the global event despite the injury but showed discomfort while warming up at Eden Gardens for the match against the Afghans.
Malinga was also Sri Lanka's T20 captain but gave up the leadership duties with Angelo Mathews taking over on the eve of the competition.
The selectors will name a replacement in the next 72 hours but Suranga Lakmal is the reserve seamer in the current squad and is expected to support Dushmantha Chameera and Nuwan Kulasekara, who both played against Afghanistan.
The last time Malinga had a similar bone bruising injury was in 2008 and he was out action for nearly two years on that occasion.
Sri Lanka's next game in the tournament is against the West Indies in Bangalore on Sunday.
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