In a world where we were taught to bowl like Glenn McGrath and Wasim Akram, successful bowlers with traditional and smooth bowling action, a young Sri Lankan bowler with an unorthodox action smashing yorkers whenever he wants to stamped his arrival in international cricket in 2004. Lasith Malinga, who announced his retirement from all forms of cricket on Tuesday, will go down in history as one of the best bowlers to ever grace a cricket field in a shorter format of the game.
Malinga, one of the greatest death-over bowlers in the game’s history, announced his retirement via a video post on social media stating, “Today is a very special day for me because I want to thank each and everyone who has supported me and blessed me throughout my T20 career. Today I decided, I want to give a hundred percent rest for my T20 bowling shoes”.
In 2004, Lasith Malinga played his maiden ODI against the UAE and became a consistent member of the Sri Lankan bowling group from that moment. From his unorthodox action to his coloured curly hair, Malinga was not your regular fast-bowler. His ability to bowl at the start as well as the death of the innings gave him an edge over other fast bowlers and we can never forget his ability to bowl yorkers seemingly at will.
Ravi Ashwin perfectly outlined the career of Malinga via his tweet”
“Being different is always frowned upon and Lasith Malinga walked that road for so many years”
Malinga – standing amongst Sri Lanka’s greats
Sri Lanka has produced world-class bowlers such as Muralidharan, Vaas, and Nuwan Kulasekara, and Malinga’s presence among these legends speaks volumes about his ability as a bowler. In ODIs, he ranks third among Sri Lanka’s top wicket-takers. He has taken 338 ODI wickets for Sri Lanka, trailing only Vaas and Muralitharan. He was a key member of the Lanks squad that reached two consecutive World Cup finals in 2007 and 2011.
The introduction of T20s – Malinga’s own cricketing format
No wonder Lasith Malinga is the biggest wicket-taker in the world of international T20 cricket, as he scalped 107 wickets at an average of 16.8. His ability to bowl yorkers and variations in T20 cricket made it difficult for batsmen to score runs off his bowling. The only bowlers in international cricket to have taken 100 wickets are Malinga and Shakib-Al-Hasan.
IPL and Malinga – a match made in heaven
Malinga has also played various lucrative T20 leagues around the world and has been successful in all of them. Malinga played in four IPL championships (2013, 2015, 2017, and 2019) and was instrumental in the 2011 Champions League victory in the absence of key Indian players. He is also the leading wicket-taker in IPL having 170 wickets to his name.
The master of the slinging action ended his ten-year career with a wicket off his last ball (Shardul Thakur) in the 2019 IPL, securing MI’s fourth title. He was also a vital part of the success of Mumbai Indians.
Malinga and his ability to pick up wickets in bunches
Hat-tricks are uncommon in international cricket, and with modern cricket becoming more favourable to batters, claiming hat-tricks has become even more difficult. Lasith Malinga, a Sri Lankan veteran, is at the top of the list and the only bowler to have three hat-tricks in international cricket. And who can forget Malinga tearing through South Africa’s lower order to almost pull off an unlikely victory against one of the tournament’s favourites in the 2007 World Cup? The “Yorker King” took four wickets in four balls, making him the first international bowler to do so.
Malinga – a bowler for big matches
Lasith Malinga has played four 50-over World Cups for Sri Lanka and was one of their most prolific match winners. Malinga is the third-highest wicket-taker in ODI World Cup history also became the quickest to 50 wickets in World Cup history. In terms of wickets taken, he is only second to Glenn McGrath and M. Muralitharan but has a higher strike rate.
Even today, MI’s star bowler, Jasprit Bumrah, credits Lasith Malinga for his success, citing how he grew under the Sri Lankan’s tutelage since his debut in 2013. It is because of players like Lasith Malinga and Steve Smith that aspiring players prefer to be themselves rather than copy conventional cricketers.