AUS vs SL | Lasith Malinga returns to Sri Lanka T20I squad for Australia tour

AUS vs SL | Lasith Malinga returns to Sri Lanka T20I squad for Australia tour

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After sitting out for the Pakistan tour, Lasith Malinga is among four players to have returned to the Sri Lanka squad for the upcoming three-match T20I series in Australia. Niroshan Dickwella, Kusal Perera, and Kusal Mendis have returned to the squad after pulling out due to the same reason.

While Sri Lanka created history by beating No.1 T20I team in the world at their own shore, it was irony of sorts that 10 of Sri Lanka's top 10 names were missing. They pulled out of the tour citing security reasons, might be a shadow fact that the massacre of 2009 was very much alive in their mind. However, six of those names are still absent from the line-up that is scheduled to take on Australia in Australia, with only Malinga, Dickwella, and two Kusals - Perera and Mendis.

As a result, Angelo Perera, Lahiru Madushanka, Sadeera Samarawickrama and Minod Bhanuka made way for the quartet, ensuring the four could be accommodated. One of the positives to have come out of the tour, Bhanuka Rajapaksa, who scored a whirlwind 48-ball 77 from No.3 - an innings laced with four fours and six sixes, and Wanindu Hasaranga, who finished on top of the wicket-takers list in Pakistan, have held onto his spot for the tour of Australia.

Oshada Fernando's blistering 48-ball 78 in the third T20I in Lahore has also helped him settle in the line-up that will take on Australia in a three-match T20I series. The first match of the series will be played in Adelaide, before shifting to the Gabba in Brisbane on October 30 and then to the MCG in Melbourne on November 1.

Sri Lanka T20I squad: Lasith Malinga, Kusal Perera, Kusal Mendis, Danushka Gunathilaka, Avishka Fernando, Niroshan Dickwella, Dasun Shanaka, Shehan Jayasuriya, Bhanuka Rajapaksa, Oshada Fernando, Wanindu Hasaranga, Lakshan Sandakan, Nuwan Pradeep, Lahiru Kumara, Isuru Udana, Kasun Rajitha

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