Sri Lankan speedster Lasith Malinga will be joining the Mumbai Indians squad after the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) slammed the Sri Lankan cricket board for its U-turn on the pacer’s unavailability for the first six matches of the tournament. Times Now had reported that the two boards were addressing the issue. As a result of the pressure created by the BCCI, SLC changed its stance and released Malinga saying he would get to bowl at several better batsman in the IPL.

In a statement released on its official Twitter account, SLC said, “SLC decided to give permission to Lasith Malinga to play in the ongoing IPL. The management decided to release Malinga from participating in the Super Provincial; since he would get an opportunity to play with much stronger opposition in IPL; which consist of international players.”

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It was earlier reported that Malinga would miss the first six matches for the Mumbai Indians as the SLC made it mandatory for its players to participate in Sri Lanka's Super Provincial One-Day domestic tournament, scheduled for April 4-11. Soon after the news broke, BCCI got in touch with SLC and questioned its stance as it was only after the board gave a green signal for Malinga’s availability for IPL 12 that he was included in IPL 2019 auctions. Mumbai Indians then went on to buy him for Rs 2 crore.

Malinga will now join the Mumbai Indians squad for their next match against Virat Kohli-led Royal Challengers Bangalore. Sources monitoring the development had told Times Now that the Slinger will play MI’s matches against Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB), Kings XI Punjab (KXIP) and Chennai Super Kings (CSK) scheduled to be played on March 28, March 30 and April 3 respectively. After the match against CSK, Malinga can leave for Sri Lanka to play in the week-long domestic league during which Rohit Sharma’s men will play two more matches in IPL 12.

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Mumbai got off to a poor start in the new season where they lost their opening match against Delhi Capitals at their home ground. It remains to be seen whether Malinga, who remains to be the highest wicket-taker in the tournament history despite missing the last edition, can help Mumbai register their maiden win this season.