Malinga, Gunaratne to miss MI opener

MUMBAI: When Mitchell Johnson was bought back by the Mumbai Indians (MI) in the IPL auction earlier this year, the popular franchise's fans were excited at the prospect of again watching the Australian pacer bowl in tandem with Sri Lankan toecrusher Lasith Malinga. That sight will, however, only be witnessed when MI play their second match, in which they take on Kolkata Knight Riders at the Wankhede Stadium on April 9.
TOI has learnt that Malinga and his Lanka teammate Asela Gunaratne will miss MI's 2017 IPL opener against Pune Supergiant on April 6 as the islanders will be busy with their two-match T20 International series against Bangladesh, which concludes on the same day in Colombo.Johnson, meanwhile, has been sweating it out in the MI nets from Wednesday.
Malinga had missed last year's IPL, in which Mumbai failed to make it to the playoffs, due to a knee injury. With 143 wickets in 98 matches, the 33-year-old is the highest wicket-taker in IPL history. Gunaratne has already made an impressive start to his international career, having made 168 runs in seven T20Is@42.00 (strike rate: 143.58), 285 runs in 12 ODIs@35.62, and 330 runs in four Tests@47.14 in four Tests.