Indian Premier League: Are Mumbai Indians Fielding a Half-Fit Lasith Malinga?

Reported by: Amitoj Singh - NDTV

Lasith Malinga is one of the best death bowlers and the master of bowling yorkers, but figures of 0/27 and 2/34 in the first two games in Indian Premier League eight seem to indicate that he isn't fully fit.

Before Sri Lanka's World Cup 2015 quarterfinal vs South Africa in Sydney about 3 weeks ago, Lasith Malinga was bowling at Kumar Sangakkara and Mahela Jayawardene. He was steaming in and delivering some real sharp bouncers. It was fast, really fast. But clearly Malinga, in the Indian Premier League, is not the same Malinga he was just 3 weeks agoDean Jones revealed to NDTV that Malinga is carrying a niggle.

"His knee surgeon is the same as mine. I have just had knee surgery myself and he said he's still go problems with his knee and also little problems with his ankle. So you're not going to get the best out of Malinga but I didn't know Malinga was still seeing Dr David Young back in Melbourne," Dean Jones said.

Figures of 0/27 and 2/34 in his first two games don't necessarily stand as enough evidence to suggest Malinga is playing with a manageable injury.

However, those performances are surely a far cry from what helped Mumbai win the IPL in 2013.

So how is Malinga still playing if he does have niggles?

"Maybe he can manage. It is amazing the boys have painkillers and all that type of stuff but straight after the IPL I have no doubt he (Malinga) will be seeing him (Doctor David Young) again," Jones said.

If Mumbai are to recover from their poor start to the season, then Malinga will have to find a way to become the Slinga Malinga we know him to be.