Lasith Malinga, the Sri-Lankan bowling beast, has retired from the franchise cricket as his IPL franchise Mumbai Indians revealed their list of the retained players on Wednesday. The speedster earlier this month informed about his decision to the Mumbai Indians’ management, making himself unavailable for the upcoming season and made himself unavailable for the upcoming IPL season.
Speaking of his decision, Malinga said: “After discussing with family, I think now is the right time to retire from all franchise cricket. The pandemic situation and the travel restrictions will make it difficult for me, given my personal circumstances, to participate fully in franchise cricket for the next year. Therefore, it is best to make this decision now.
“I have discussed the same with Mumbai Indians management in recent days as they prepare for the upcoming auction and they have been very supportive and understanding. I would like to take this opportunity to thank the Ambani family, everyone at the Mumbai Indians franchise, and all our fans for the wonderful 12 years.
“Mumbai Indians has treated me like family, supporting me 100 % in every situation both on and off the field, and always giving me the confidence and the freedom to play my natural game whenever I walked onto the field.
“I have collected so many happy memories that I cherish and I am very grateful to have played for so long for the best franchise in world cricket. I would like to wish Mrs. Nita Ambani, coach Mahela (Jayawardene), Akash (Ambani), and the MI family all the best for the upcoming season.”
The Mumbai Indians captain and a good friend of Malinga, Rohit Sharma, took to his social media, Instagram, to share a tribute towards the former’s departure from their team, shared a picture of them on the field, both dressed in their Mumbai Indians jersey. The picture was captioned, “One of the best the game has seen. Truly a match-winner, his presence around the squad will be missed.”
His other teammate, Jasprit Bumrah also shared pictures with his MI teammate and said, “It’s been an honor playing alongside you and picking your brain all these years, Mali. Congratulations on a successful career, the IPL won’t be the same without you”.
