Sri Lanka fast bowler Lasith Malinga on Thursday shared his views on the Indian Wicket-Keeper batsman MS Dhoni, who has been trying hard to keep his name in the ongoing World Cup. Malinga said that Dhoni has to play for another one or two years and pass on his experience to the young players.
Considering Dhoni as India’s best finisher, he has been facing criticism since last two matches for his slow innings. Malinga, however, feels that nobody can beat the Wicket-Keeper batsman.
“I think MS (Dhoni) should play for another one or two years. He is the best finisher in the last 10 years. I don’t think anyone can beat him in the future. He has to give his experience and situation handling to all the young players. They (India) have good experience in past captain, MS Dhoni. I think that’s why they are a successful team. I think they are good enough to beat any team in this competition,” – Malinga told.
Dhoni and Jadhav couldn’t make the required runs when there is a requirement of more than 12 runs for each over in the last 5 overs in the match. But in the last match, Dhoni made a good score of 35 of 33 balls in the match against Bangladesh.
India stood in the semi-finals after the beating the Bangladesh on earlier this week. Malinga told that Indian skipper has nothing to because India has got good players.
“I think Virat has a good luxury. They (India) have good players, they showed their character in the IPL tournament. They know exactly their ownership in the team, every single player then Virat doesn’t have to do much,” – Malinga added.
Malinga talking about the Indian bowlers Jasprit Bumrah and Mohammad Shami’s said that they both are the accurate bowlers and know how to handle the pressure. Malinga also added up Yuzvendra Chahal and Kuldeep Yadav for the success of India in the Tournaments.
“They (Bumrah and Shami) are the most accurate bowlers. Shami is the guy who took five wickets and three wickets. Every time he gets the ball he knows how accurate it is for him. Jasprit is an experienced death overs bowler. He knows how to handle a pressure situation. I think that combination is very good for them. And I think they have two genuine good spinners. That’s why they are a well successful team. Jasprit is doing good in this world cup and I am still waiting for his five wickets in the World Cup. I fell if he gets five wickets in the semi-finals they will definitely qualify for the final,”
Malinga speaking about his team told they couldn’t qualify the semi-finals as the didn’t win the last two matches.
“Unfortunately we didn’t play two matches (against Pakistan and Bangladesh) because of rain wash. Then we won three matches. Then we have opportunity day after. We are also in a good position but unfortunately, we are not qualified for the World Cup semi-finals. Still, if we play in the last two matches we never know what’s going on. But we can’t control that,” – Malinga added.
Malinga continued saying that Avishka Fernando and his skipper Dimuth Karunaratne have to carry the team in the future.
“Avishka (Fernando) played really well and other young players had a good experience of the World Cup. I feel after the world cup they have to carry the momentum. Dimuth (Karunaratne) is good. He showed his opening ability in ODI cricket. They have to carry Sri Lankan cricket in the future,” – Malinga added.
When asked about his future plans, Malinga told he will discuss with the Srilanka Cricket Board and accordingly plan for it.
“I want to go to Sri Lanka and meet the Sri Lanka cricket board and ask what they are expecting from me next month or next year. Then according to that, I want to get my decision as soon as possible,” Malinga said.
