New captain but the same result. In fact, the latest result was worse than the previous ones, as Sri Lanka suffered their heaviest beating in One-Day Internationals at home with India inflicting a humiliating 168-run defeat on the struggling hosts on Thursday (August 31) to go 4-0 up in the five-match series.
After Chamara Kapugedera was ruled out of the contest due to a back injury, Lasith Malinga was handed over the captaincy, and although the veteran pacer enjoyed a memorable moment during the match, even he could not inspire the Islanders to turn their fortunes around.
Malinga became just one of the few Pacers who have managed to take 300 wickets in the 50-over format when he dismissed his Indian counterpart Virat Kohli but barring that, the game was once again forgettable for the bowler as well as for the team.
And with his form not looking good since he has returned to ODI cricket after a 19-month layoff, Malinga has said he will assess his future in the coming days. Malinga has played 12 games after returning during the Champions Trophy but has managed to pick up just nine wickets with two of those coming in the four matches of the ongoing series.
“I’m playing after 19 months following a leg injury,” said Malinga. “In the Zimbabwe and India series I couldn’t play well. I’ll see where I’m at after this series, and evaluate how long I can play given the way my body is.
“No matter how experienced I am, if I can’t win a match for the team and do what the team needs, there’s no point in me being here. I’ll see if I can make up for that 19 months and regain that form over the next three or four months. I’ll see the number of games that I get. If not I’ll have to consider the state of my body, and what is expected of me. If I can’t deliver that, then I’ll happily retire,” he added.
The stand-in skipper, who had led Sri Lanka to the World T20 glory in 2014, further lamented the lack of experience in the team and urged for patience with the inexperienced players.
“When you look at other teams, you can think about how many of their players have played a lot of matches. If you take our 11 cricketers, how many ODIs have they played? I think we are lacking experience. Except for Angelo Mathews, Lahiru Thirimanne and myself, others have played very little. That’s why when a difficult situation comes and we’re playing against a good team, we find it hard to come out of that. Now we need to give these guys a place and experience until 2019. We need to be patient,” he said.
After conceding a mammoth 375, Sri Lanka’s batsmen once again came a cropper, posting their lowest total in the series, as they were bowled out for a paltry 207 with only Angelo Mathews crossing the 50-run mark during the big chase.
“In our earlier teams, you had players who had played a 100 ODIs, or at least 50 ODIs. We need that. Every other team in the world has that experience in their side. We need to get there. We need to give the young players some more matches and get them to the place we need them to be. That’s what’s important,” he added.