Former Mumbai Indians pacer Lasith Malinga will be seen for the first time in another franchise’s dugout as he has been roped in as fast bowling coach by the Rajasthan Royals for IPL 2022. Earlier this year, he was appointed as Sri Lanka’s bowling coach for the T20I series in Australia.
“It’s a wonderful feeling for me to return to the IPL and an absolute honour to join Rajasthan Royals, a franchise that has always promoted and developed young talent,” Lasith Malinga said.
“I am excited by the pace bowling unit we have going into the tournament and looking forward to supporting all the fast bowlers with the execution of their game-plans and their overall development. I’ve made some very special memories in the IPL with Mumbai Indians and now with Royals, looking forward to new experiences and creating great memories in this journey,” Lasith Malinga said.
Lasith Malinga, who retired from all forms of cricket last year, is the leading wicket-taker in the history of the IPL, with 170 wickets for Mumbai Indians, and is only one of four bowlers to have snared over 100 T20I scalps.
At the Rajasthan Royals, Malinga will team up with his former Sri Lanka captain Kumar Sangakkara, who is the franchise’s head coach and Director of Cricket, and Steffan Jones, who was named as high-performance fast-bowling coach last week.
Rajasthan Royals have got a strong fast-bowling group that they assembled at the mega-auction. They bought the likes of Trent Boult, Prasidh Krishna, Nathan Coulter Nile, Navdeep Saini, and Obed McCoy.
Hailing Lasith Malinga as one of the finest T20 pacer, Kumar Sangakkara said Malinga is a great addition to the coaching staff and the seamers in the squad will only benefit from the legend’s presence.
“Lasith is arguably one of the greatest T20 fast bowlers of all time, and to have a personality like his around the training ground, and the expertise he brings to the table, is certainly something we feel the team can benefit from,” the head coach said.
“We have some of the best fast bowlers in our squad and we are delighted that they will have the chance to work with Lasith and get to learn and develop further.”
