Injured Malinga to fly home

Lasith Malinga, Sri Lanka's fast bowler, has been ruled out of the ongoing World Twenty20 and will fly back home without having played a single match.

Lasith Malinga has not recovered sufficiently from a knee injury.

Injured Sri Lanka paceman Lasith Malinga will fly back home from the World Twenty20 in India without having played a single match, the country's cricket board said on Friday.

"Sri Lanka team management on tour have observed that Malinga, whose niggling injury has been flaring up, would be better off resting it, and have recommended he return to Colombo," the board said in a statement.

Replacement to be named shortly

Malinga, 32, was last week retained in the squad with the board saying a replacement would be named shortly. The bowler presided over a dismal showing by Sri Lanka in the Asia Cup where it was beaten by little-fancied Bangladesh, and only just scraped past the United Arab Emirates.

While Sri Lanka won the last World Twenty20 in Bangladesh in 2014, the team has been badly weakened by the retirements of star batsmen Kumar Sangakkara and Mahela Jayawardene. Malinga only played one match in the Asia Cup where he hinted that he was considering retirement.

The paceman has had a long history of injury problems and gave up Test cricket in 2010, saying he was unable to withstand the rigour of five-day matches.