Our Slinga our pride: Karunaratne
‘Our Slinga, our pride’ read a huge banner placed at the entrance of the R Premadasa Stadium in Colombo. That perhaps said it all as Sri Lanka cricket is all set to bid farewell to legendary fast bowler Lasith Malinga, for whom the first of a three-match ODI series against Bangladesh today will be his last for the island nation.
The tickets for the match have been already sold out, which was demarcated by a sign posted outside the stadium’s ticket booth. All of Sri Lanka has geared up to provide a fond farewell to their last representative of the golden generation of Sri Lankan cricket with Malinga having decided to hand up his boots in the fifty-over format to make-way for the youngsters who need to be prepared for the next World Cup.
Sri Lanka skipper Dimuth Karunaratne hopes to bid farewell to Malinga with a win in order to bring a just end to the legend’s illustrious 15-year career.
“The best thing we can give him [Malinga] victory and that’s what we are planning. Other than that, we discussed a few things in the dressing room before leaving for the hotel. But mainly we want to focus on winning the match that’s the best thing we can do for him. He is a legend; he has done a really good job for more than 15 years. He has been our main bowler for the last few years.
“I think we will miss him and I don’t think anyone can replace him. We asked him to stay for couple of more years but he wanted to give a chance to the youngsters to groom them for the World Cup so we accepted it. And we will try to give him the best farewell on this first one-dayer,” Karunaratne told reporters ahead of the match yesterday.
Meanwhile, Bangladesh stand-in skipper Tamim Iqbal also gave his best wishes to Malinga, saying that he was the reason why many budding cricketers became fast bowlers.
“He is a great ambassador of cricket. I think he is a cricketer whom a lot of youngsters saw him play. I remember when he first came to play especially against Bangladesh, people wanted to bowl like him. Even when we came to play in Sri Lanka, we looked for bowlers in the nets who bowl like him. He had this type of impact in the cricketing world,” said Tamim.
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