Malinga to lead Sri Lanka in fourth ODI

Lasith Malinga will lead Sri Lanka in the fourth One-Day International against India at the R Premadasa stadium on Thursday (August 31).

Malinga’s elevation comes after Chamara Kapugedera, himself a stand-in skipper, was ruled out of the remainder of the five-match series with a back injury. A medical examination revealed the extent of the damage on Wednesday.

Malinga has previously led Sri Lanka in Twenty20 Internationals, taking it to the ICC World T20 title in Bangladesh in 2014, before resigning ahead of the World T20 in India in 2016. Malinga, 34, will be making his ODI captaincy debut in his 203rd match, and will look to mark the occasion with his 300th scalp, having picked up just one wicket in the first three games of the series thus far.

Kapugedera was to have led the team in the third and fourth ODIs after Upul Tharanga was suspended for those two matches for an over-rate offence during the second ODI in Pallekele.

Kapugedera, who had nursed a mild back injury throughout the series, aggravated the condition while batting during the third ODI.

With Danushka Gunathilaka injuring his shoulder in the second ODI and Dinesh Chandimal out for the series after a bouncer from Hardik Pandya caused a hairline fracture on the Test skipper’s right thumb, this is the third major injury concern for Sri Lanka since the start of the ODI series.

Sri Lanka has brought in Dhananjaya de Silva and Dilshan Munaweera for Kapugedera and Gunathilaka.