Sri Lankan pace bowler Lasith Malinga is set to retire from One Day International cricket after the first match against Bangladesh in their three-match series, captain Dimuth Karunaratne said.
Malinga had been named in the 22-man squad for the entire Bangladesh series. The matches are scheduled for July 26-30 in Colombo. However, Karunaratne said that Malinga would only play in the first match.
“He is going to play the first match. After that he is retiring. That's what he said to me. I don't know what he said for the selectors, but for me, he said he is playing only one match,” said Karunaratne.
The 35-year-old pace bowler had earlier said that he would retire from international cricket following next year's World Twenty20 in Australia. He had retired from Test cricket in 2011.
Malinga is Sri Lanka's third highest wicket-taker in ODIs with 335 wickets from 225 ODIs so far, after Muttiah Muralitharan (523) and Chaminda Vaas (399).
Malinga has been a formidable bowler in ODI cricket since his debut in 2004. He is known to execute toe-crushing yorkers at will, especially in the death overs. The former captain was Sri Lanka's most successful bowler at the recent World Cup in England with 13 wickets from seven innings. He is third in the list of most successful bowlers in the history of the World Cup with 56 wickets. He has also taken three ODI hat-tricks and is the only player to have achieved the milestone twice during a World Cup.
(With inputs from agencies)