No room for Malinga

Sri Lanka's cricket administrators, selectors and everyone who matters including the country's political hierarchy have finally run out of patience with Lasith Malinga's indifferent performances of late for his country's national team and have taken a collective decision to send the star bowler a strong signal about his future with the Sri Lanka team by dropping him for the forthcoming Bangladesh tour.
Informed sources told this newspaper that a lot of new changes will herald the new year for Sri Lanka team following a crucial meeting of top level officials of Sri Lanka Cricket (SLC), where some radical decisions had been taken. Among them was a decision to put the performance of several other senior players of the team under the microscope and an appraisal of the team's massive support staff all of whom are paid lucrative salaries.
Following Sri Lanka's 3-2 loss in the ODI series against Pakistan, the officials had felt that the team's performance was extremely below par and analysed that Sri Lanka could not do much worse, even without the misfiring seniors. They have wanted new blood infused into the system through a gradual rotation system of resting seniors and trying out new talent in their place.
Malinga's pathetic bowling and fielding had been a main topic of concern and SLC president Jayantha Dharmadasa had reportedly communicated the decisions taken in consultation with the national selectors to the national team members and support staff.
Sources said that Dharmadasa had phoned the team manager after the ODI series and had spoken to each member of the support staff to convey SLC's concern.
Among those in the front to face the firing squad are said to be the batting coach Marvan Atapattu and fielding coach Ruwan Kalpage.