COLOMBO, April 14: A Sri Lankan stylist has told how he took two days to create the bleached-blond hairdo helping Sri Lankan bowler Lasith Malinga attract attention at the cricket World Cup.

“Malinga likes to stand out, so he goes for unusual styles unlike the other well-known cricketers,” said hairdresser Nishantha Jayasekera, who runs the Le Paris salon in Panadura near Colombo and counts several other Sri Lanka cricketers among his clients.

“Malinga has his own hair ideas and he is not afraid to try out anything new,” he said, adding, “It took me two days to get the look.”

The barber told the latest edition of the Rivira weekly newspaper Malinga wanted a new style each time he went on tour and he has so far tried out five different hairstyles on the 23-year-old paceman.

But he said he never expected his latest unkempt light blond look – created specially for the World Cup in the Caribbean – to become an instant hit.

Malinga, who also sports a silver eyebrow ring, had flirted with the idea of a ‘mohawk’ shaved sides with a thin strip of hair in the middle, he said.—AFP