Premier fast bowler Lasith Malinga yesterday said he decided to play for Mumbai Indians and not the local team Southern Express in the upcoming Champions League T20 hoping cricket officials would use the money generated by his decision to build a swimming facility for the use of cricketers.
He has written a letter and already informed Sri Lanka Cricket of his desire, Malinga said.
“We all know that after training we have something called ‘recovery’.
For that swimming is something really important. I thought a swimming facility for Khettarama Stadium is a must as we have to travel for 45 minutes or so in search of a swimming pool,” Malinga said.
“I think to build a state-of-the-art swimming facility one needs around 150-175 lakhs of rupees. There is a chance for SLC to earn that much if I chose to play for the Mumbai Indians. If I played for the Southern Express that chance would be gone.”
Malinga’s decision to play for his IPL team Mumbai Indians would guarantee an income of 150,000 dollars (close to Rs 200 lakhs) for SLC. Malinga said he took the decision after much deliberation and for the betterment of future Sri Lankan stars.
“I took the decision thinking about the players who would play the game tomorrow, for the national team, A team and other junior teams.”
A junior player stands to benefit playing for the Southern Express and gain valuable experience at the Champions League, Malinga added.
Earlier Malinga negotiated with SLC to allocate 70 % of the money paid to them for the participation of Southern Express in the league. It was reported SLC finally agreed to pay the players 10%.
The CLT20 will be played in India from September 13 to October 4.
