If Muttiah Muralitharan’s retirement brought relief to the Indian camp, the news of Lasith Malinga being ruled out of the second Test due to a knee injury should make them feel on top of the world.
And therein lies the danger for India in the second Test, feels Sri Lanka selector Ranjit Fernando.
“Lasith Malinga played a crucial role in the first Test victory over India in Galle and it is a jolt for us. But we had to omit him as he wasn’t completely fit,” Fernando said.
“There is no serious injury but it seems Lasith’s body is not responding. One should not force it if it’s not responding. And the player is the best judge. He knows his body well,” he added.
With Murali out and no Malinga, does he think the attack will become toothless? “I don’t think there is any reason to panic at all.
There are injuries in every team. See India is without Zaheer Khan. We can’t do anything about that,” Fernando said.
“We have bowlers who can replace him. There is Dammika Prasad, Dilhara Fernando and a young guy called Nuwan Pradeep who has a similar style of bowling like Malinga with a slinging action. I don’t think we will be weak. We are used to playing without him as he has not been there most of the time due to injuries,” he added.
The former Sri Lankan Test cricketer has warned India not to think them lightly.
“They can’t afford to be complacent at the moment. They have to put up their best show if they want to level the series. They have some of the best players in the ranks but we are good at home too,” he added.
He, however, doesn’t want to go the way of predicting the series.
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