of 5 for 28 against Australia was voted to be the second-best ODI bowling performance of the year 2011 by ESPNCricinfo voters. His spell of 5 for 31 at Pallekele against England was voted as the best T20I bowling performance of the year 2012 by ESPNCricinfo. He was also named in the 'Team of the Tournament' for the 2012 T20 World Cup by the ICC. Injury After West Indies tour, Malinga suffered a back injury and a knee injury. Because of this, he did not participate in both the New Zealand tour and the Indian tour, hoping that he would recover for the beginning of the 2016 ICC World Twenty20. Malinga was appointed as the captain for the 2016 Asia Cup, where he was only able to play against UAE, with a match-winning bowling performance. The knee injury caused him to skip the remaining matches and Sri Lanka lost all them all. Sri Lanka announced their World T20 team with Malinga as the captain, but continuous injuries resulted in Malinga stepping down from the captaincy and Angelo Mathews was named the captain in all formats. Even though Sri Lanka felt that Malinga would recover for the World cup matches, his injuries ruled him out of the Twenty20 squad. He returned home due to a prevailing bone bruise on his left knee. Captaincy Malinga was named as the vice-captain of the Sri Lankan Twenty20 International team in October 2012. He became captain of Sri Lankan Cricket Team in 2014 ICC World Twenty20 after Dinesh Chandimal received a ban. He successfully led the team to win the world cup. Due to continuous injuries, he stepped down from the captaincy in 2015. His spell of 5 for 56 against Pakistan at Mirpur in 2014 was named as the best ODI Bowling Performance of the year by ESPNCricinfo. He was also nominated for his spell of 5 for 52 against the same opponents in the group stage game. However, in 2016 against India, he was appointed as the ODI captain due to injuries to permanent captain. Sri Lanka lost the match in that game. On 14 December 2018, Malinga was appointed as the limited over captain for New Zealand tour. International comeback Malinga quit from all domestic and international cricket for a one-year after his T20I match against UAE in March 2016. Due to these injuries, Malinga lost matches against England, Australia, and Zimbabwe