The leading wicket-taker of IPL, Lasith Malinga, opts out of this UAE edition of IPL for personal reasons.
Earlier, it was said that Malinga would be joining his Mumbai Indian’s camp later before the tournament begins. With the confirmation of Malinga missing out from this tournament, the Mumbai-based team will miss his experience and captaincy for their bowling department.
“Lasith is a legend and a pillar of MI’s strength.” MI owner Akash Ambani said.
“There is no denying the fact that we will miss Lasith’s cricketing acumen this season. However, we fully understand Lasith’s need to be in Sri Lanka with his family during this time.”
Every cricket follower would know what Malinga could bring on to the table, especially in this flying colours format. The Sri Lankan pacer has been a match-winner for Rohit’s team for a long time, notably the final of the last IPL edition in 2019, where he defended 9 runs in the last over to win the title for his team.
Lasith Malinga is the leading wicket-taker of IPL, scalped 170 wickets so far in his IPL career with an average of 19.20 and striking rate at 16.62. Along with the marvelous economy rate of 7.14, the Sri Lankan pacer has grabbed 6 four-wicket haul and 1 fifer in IPL.
The contribution he has made for his side is always irreplaceable, and his numbers would show the story.
The Australian pace bowler James Pattinson has been signed as the replacement of Lasith Malinga. James Pattinson, who is currently in the Australian squad to play against England, is set to join the Mumbai Indians camp a week before the IPL.
“James is the right fit for us and adds to our pace attack options available at hand, especially for the conditions we will play in this season,” says Akash Ambani.
James Pattinson hasn’t played yet in IPL. But the hulky Australian pacer has pretty decent numbers in the Big Bash League of Australia, which is another bigger league of cricket. Speaking of the International level, he is naive, who has only four T20 matches for Australia to his name. So, for a speedster who needs to prove his name in a bigger stage, this is the right time, and this is the right space under the mighty franchise with technically-sound coaches.
Even though Mumbai Indians will miss the legendary pacer, their pace attack is filled with international exposure: Trent Boult, Nathan Coulter-Nile, Jasprit Bumrah, Dhawal Kulkarni, Hardik Pandya, James Pattinson, Sherfane Rutherford, and Kieron Pollard.
Mumbai Indians have never missed to improve their bench-strength. Even their substitute players who carry water for the playing eleven will be a match-winner. With Mahela Jayawardene as head coach and Shane Bond as bowling coach, this team is a pure class that takes cricket to its next level. Therefore, like any other IPL, we can expect the same sort of intensity and passion from the Mumbai based team, albeit they are going to miss out on the sidearm speedster of Sri Lanka.
