Lasith Malinga to miss South Africa T20I series due to dengue

Lasith Malinga, who last played for Sri Lanka in the Asia Cup tournament in February 2016, will miss the South Africa Twenty20 International series due to dengue.

Sri Lanka paceman Lasith Malinga has been ruled out of the Twenty20 and One Day series against South Africa as he has yet to fully recover from a bout of dengue fever, officials said.

Lasith Malinga has not played competitive cricket for Sri Lanka since February 2016 due to a spate of knee injuries.(AP)

The 33-year-old was expected to make a comeback after a litany of injuries but will now have to wait until next month at least when Sri Lanka play three T20 internationals in Australia.

Highlights

Lasith Malinga has struggled with a knee problem for the last one year

Malinga missed the World Twenty20 in 2016 and the Indian Premier League

Malinga last played an international game for Sri Lanka in February 2016.

He struggled last year with knee problems that kept him out of the World T20s and the Indian Premier League, and late last year had bout of dengue fever.

“He had a practice game last week and realised he still wasn’t up the right level of fitness,” team manager Ranjith Fernando told Reuters.

The last of Malinga’s 191 ODI appearances was against the West Indies in November 2015 and last February, he played a single T20 international against the United Arab Emirates at the Asia Cup in Bangladesh.

Sri Lanka play the last of three Tests against South Africa from Thursday and then have three T20 internationals and five ODIs against their hosts.