IPL 2018: Mumbai Indians Appoint Lasith Malinga as Bowling Mentor

Sri Lanka pacer, Lasith Malinga, has joined Mumbai Indians team in the capacity of bowling mentor. The 34-year-old player found no buyers in the IPL auction and went unsold.

Him taking up this role is a surprise, as he has not announced his retirement from the game and hardly we see any active player performing the role of a mentor; unless he is himself part of the team.

He was not selected in the T20I side for the series against Bangladesh that was announced by the Sri Lankan selectors, today.

Malinga made his IPL debut for Mumbai Indians in 2009 and has been part of this franchise ever since. In total, he has played 110 IPL games in which he has scaled 154 wickets,

“It’s a great opportunity to be present with, and an honour to continue my association with Mumbai Indians. Mumbai has been my home away from home for the last decade. As a player, I have enjoyed the journey with Mumbai Indians and now as a mentor, I look forward to the new chapter,” said Malinga.

It will be the first time when Malinga will perform the role of a mentor for any side.

Malinga will work under his former captain, Mahela Jayawardene, in the Mumbai Indians camp. The latter was appointed as the Head Coach of the side before IPL 2017 and led the team to a title victory in the very first season, as the coach of the team. He replaced Ricky Ponting in the job, who is now associated with Delhi Daredevils.

The upcoming season of IPL will start on April 7 with defending champions Mumbai Indians playing the opening game of the season. The most successful franchise in the history of IPL Indians will look to defend their title this season.

Mumbai Indians retained their skipper Rohit Sharma, Hardik Pandya and Jasprit Bumrah ahead of the auction while they used their Right to Match (RTM) card on Kieron Pollard and Krunal Pandya.

Apart from them, Mumbai Indians also added likes of Mustafizur Rahman, Pat Cummins, Evin Lewis to their squad.

Mumbai Indians team: Rohit Sharma (Captain), Hardik Pandya, Jasprit Bumrah, Kieron Pollard, Mustafizur Rahman, Pat Cummins, Surya Kumar Yadav, Krunal Pandya, Rahul Chahar, Saurabh Tiwary, Evin Lewis, Jason Behrendorff, JP Duminy, Tajinder Dhillon, Sharad Lumba, Siddhesh Lad, Aditya Tare, Mayank Markande, Akila Dhananjaya, Anukul Roy, Mohsin Khan, Nidheesh MD Dinesan.

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