All is well between Sri Lankan fast bowling coach Chaminda Vaas and their pace spearhead Lasith Malinga, according to the former.
Media reports suggested that Malinga was not willing to work with Vaas during the recently concluded ODI series that the visitors lost 3-2 to Pakistan. However, Vaas, in an exclusive interview with Gulf News, revealed that there has not been a “fall out”.
“There is no problem between me and Malinga. The media just wants to create a furore. He didn’t perform that well with the ball so they are making up these things. There was no such problem of him not listening to me during the ODI series,” Vaas said after the first Test here on Saturday.
“Malinga gelled well with me and also the previous bowling coach Champaka Ramanayake, who has also been my coach,” added Vaas.
Malinga is currently in Australia representing Melbourne Stars in the Big Bash League and questions are being raised about his commitment towards the national side.
Vaas refused to doubt Malinga’s efforts and brushed aside the allegations saying: “Big Bash and all are different tournaments and players from different countries play together in that. I feel Lasith has always given 100 per cent to Sri Lanka cricket, although he has to ensure that he has the fitness to bowl full throttle in his 10 overs.”
The 39-year-old was also of the view that Sri Lanka cricket will have to nurse the bowler if they want his services for the 2015 World Cup in Australia. “If we have to keep Malinga for [the] World Cup, then we have to manage him and get the best out of him. As a fast bowler you tend to get injuries and being a fast bowler you have to train and keep yourself fit for upcoming tournaments.
“If Malinga can do that then he is going to be a good weapon for the 2015 World Cup,” asserted Vaas adding, “At the moment, he is bowling really well. Unfortunately, he didn’t bowl well in the ODIs but I feel he is a strong lad and will come out well in the next series.”
Despite the first Test ending in a tame draw, Vaas was quite pleased with the way his bowlers performed but felt they missed a plot or two in not having an extra pacer on the track with a green tinge.
“I’m very pleased with the performance of our pacers here. We did well to keep them (Pakistan) to 380. Fast bowlers had something on these wickets right from day one. We just played two pacers (Shaminda) Eranga and (Suranga) Lakmal in his match and I felt if we would have added another seamer, things would have been different,” said Vaas.
“We have some promising left-armers coming up but we have to get them into shape. They have to play good first-class cricket first rather than getting into playing Test cricket. Vishwa (Fernando), who is here has a lot of potential and his progress is good. I think he will be included in the team in future and he can go a long way.”
