Mumbai Indians (MI) roped in Australian speedster James Pattinson as a replacement for Malinga for season 13 of the tournament. Pattinson will join the MI squad which is currently based out of UAE's capital city Abu Dhabi this weekend.
“James is the right fit for us and adds to our pace attack options available at hand especially for the conditions we will play in this season in UAE,” the club said in a statement.
“Lasith is a legend and a pillar of MI’s strength. There is no denying the fact that we will miss Lasith’s cricketing acumen this season. However, we fully understand Lasith’s need to be in Sri Lanka with his family during this time.
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Mumbai Indians is founded on the values of ‘One Family’ and for us, the members of our squad and their wellbeing will always hold utmost importance. We welcome James to our One Family.” it added.
Lasith Malinga has been a pivotal member and the seam bowling spearhead of the highly successful Mumbai Indians team over the years in the IPL.
The tearaway Lankan speedster picking up a staggering 170 wickets in 122 IPL matches at a meagerly average of 19.80. He happens to be the highest wicket taker in the IPL history. It is notable that Malinga bowled the title-winning last over in a thrilling chase against Chennai Super Kings in last year's final.
Mumbai Indians Squad For IPL 13
Rohit Sharma, Sherfane Rutherford, Suryakumar Yadav, Anmolpreet Singh, Chris Lynn , Saurabh Tiwary, Dhawal Kulkarni, Jasprit Bumrah, James Pattinson, Mitchell McClenaghan, Rahul Chahar, Trent Boult, Mohsin Khan, Prince Balwant Rai Singh, Digvijay Deshmukh, Hardik Pandya, Jayant Yadav, Kieron Pollard, Krunal Pandya, Anukul Roy, Nathan Coulter-Nile, Ishan Kishan, Quinton de Kock, Aditya Tare.