“It’s difficult to put a time frame on his recovery”

Image courtesy of: Zimbio

Sri Lanka pace bowler Lasith Malinga’s left knee problem has been labelled as a “substantial injury” by Sri Lanka Cricket’s doctors.

Malinga doesn’t require surgery right now, but it will take a lengthy period of time for his to make a full recovery, which almost certainly rules him out of Sri Lank’s upcoming tour of England. Should the injury get any worse though, he will need to go under the knife.

“Malinga is suffering from a stress reaction in the knee,” SLC medical committee chairman Dr. Harindu Wijesinghe said. “This has been caused by pressure being put on the knee. There is a chance that a stress reaction could worsen to a stress fracture, at which point he would need surgery.”

Malinga injured his knee in November last year and has only represented Sri Lanka once since then. As a result, he stepped down as the country’s Twenty20 captain.

When asked about when the 32-year-old would return, SLC doctors were hesitant about giving an answer as Malinga has failed to be fully fit during other prospective recovery dates.

“A few doctors have been advising Malinga, and we feel that he needs to rest his knee, while undergoing physiotherapy and strengthening,” Wijesinghe said. “Only after seeing how he the injury reacts to this, will we be able to say how long he might be unavailable. It might be a number of months before we decide to scan and test him again. It’s difficult to put a time frame on his recovery.”