Former WT20 winning captain to return home

Lasith Malinga will return home from the ICC World Twenty20 after an ongoing knee injury ended the 32-year-old's campaign in India.

Malinga, who only joined the team this week after pulling out of the Asia Cup, will head home after team management opted against risking a long-term injury on his troublesome knee.

The victorious 2014 World T20 captain was reduced to a shortened run-up in training, unable to exert the speed and swing that has garnered him 78 wickets at an average of 20.28 in the shortest format.

The declaration comes only days after Malinga tendered his resignation as Sri Lankan T20 captain, citing injuries as the deciding factor according to Sri Lanka Cricket vice-president Mohan de Silva.

"He is stepping down only from captaincy," de Silva said. "He has offered himself for selection only after (March) 15 because he is undergoing some treatment here in Sri Lanka," de Silva said.

Quick Single: Malinga quits as T20 skipper

The announcement is likely to end the T20 international career of Malinga, after 62 matches for Sri Lanka.

The quick hinted during last month's Asia Cup that he was close to retirement, only registering one T20 match in the past 15 months, capturing 4-26 against the United Arab Emirates last month helping Sri Lanka to their only Asia Cup victory.

But the match wasn't without its troubles for Malinga, who said the pain in his knee was still present after the match.

"I am recovering well. It was painful in the first match (against the United Arad Emirates) and it became a little stiff," Malinga told The Indian Express.

"With the World T20 coming up, I decided to sit out in the next two matches.

"For the last three months I couldn't bowl a single delivery due to the injury. I trained for just one day before the UAE game. I played through pain."

He wasn't selected for Sri Lanka's six-wicket victory against Afghanistan on Thursday night, with 24-year-old quick Dusmantha Chameera leading the attack, reaching speeds of up to 150kph in tandem with captain Angelo Mathews and veteran Nuwan Kulasekara.

Malinga played in Sri Lanka's first-ever T20 match against England in 2006, with only Chamara Kapugedera and Tillakaratne Dilshan from that match involved with this year's edition of the World T20.

Malinga is one of the format's finest exponents of 'death' bowling, currently fourth on the all-time list of T20I wicket-takers behind only Shahid Afridi, Saeed Ajmal and Umar Gul.

Sri Lanka will play England in one T20 match in June following the World T20 before taking on Australia in a two-match series this winter on Australia's tour of the island nation.