Malinga sulks over T20 loss

COLOMBO: Sri Lanka pacer Lasith Malinga has blamed himself for an indifferent bowling performance in a frank assessment of his form following a 29-run loss against Pakistan in the first T20I here on Thursday night.
He has at times been perceived as an incurable egotist, but just as he did following the World T20 final in 2012, he has taken substantial personal responsibility for this loss. He even suggested his own place in the team may be at risk, though he remains Sri Lanka’s T20 captain.
“I didn’t bowl very well. If I’m an experienced bowler in T20s, I didn’t do much for the team,” he said. “The others are all young bowlers and they’re all learning. I have to do better than that if we want to win the match.”
He has lost pace, partly as a result of injury over the past year, but his accuracy has also seemingly deserted him in recent months. He was dropped for the fifth ODI of the recent series after averaging more than 60 for his wickets.
“I am not really consistent,” he said. “If I can consistently bowl the lengths that I want to bowl, I can manage my four overs. But at the moment I’m struggling with that.”
Malinga’s last three overs cost 37 runs as Umar Akmal and Shoaib Malik attacked towards the back end of Pakistan’s innings. His expert death bowling had been vital to Sri Lanka’s World T20 title win against India 16 months ago, but he has recently failed to consistently land his once-feared yorkers.