Sri Lankan fast bowler Lasith Malinga will retire from ODI cricket after the first game of a three-match series against Bangladesh, skipper Dimuth Karunaratne said at a press conference on Monday.
“He [Malinga] 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,” Karunaratne was quoted as saying by AFP.
The three ODIs which Bangladesh will play in Sri Lanka are scheduled for July 26, 28 and 31 at the R Premadasa Stadium in Colombo.
Malinga, a veteran for Sri Lanka since his debut in 2004, will retire from the ODI format as country’s third-highest wicket-taker, with 335 wickets in 219 innings so far.
Muttiah Muralitharan (523) and Chaminda Vaas (399) are the only Sri Lankans to have taken more wickets than Malinga in ODIs.
The slingy pacer was also Sri Lanka’s highest wicket-taker at the recently concluded World Cup, claiming 13 wickets in seven innings.
Malinga retired from Test cricket in 2011 but continued to remain available in other formats since then.
The 35-year-old speedster will continue to play T20Is for Sri Lanka. “I want to play in the T20 World Cup and then end my career,” he had said earlier this year.
