Ma­lin­ga stat­ed that he could have played in the sec­ond match against Pak­istan but did not on the ad­vice of the team physio, Tom­my Sim­sek. He said that he was hap­py to per­form the way he did in front of the Sri Lankan pub­lic. "I have played for the na­tion­al team for the past sev­en years. A lot of peo­ple have said that I would not be able to play for a long time (due to in­jury con­cerns). But I am hap­py to have played for the last sev­en years." Con­tem­plat­ing his fu­ture the 27-year-old fast bowler said, "I don't know how long I could play, but I am hap­py to con­tribute to the team when­ev­er I play. I be­lieve I can still play Test crick­et af­ter con­sid­er­ing my in­jury con­cerns. When I feel that I can't do any­thing for the team, I will hap­pi­ly re­tire."