Lasith Malinga - The Undisputed King Of Yorkers
Lasith Malinga is one of the greatest bowlers of limited-overs cricket. This Sri Lankan is often termed as the 'Yorker King' for delivering the most accurate and consistent Yorkers. He is a right-arm fast bowler who acts as the armour of the team as a death bowler. Currently, Malinga is the captain of T20 Internationals for the Sri Lankan team . This magnificent bowler throws the ball with a distinctive round-arm action and is capable of taking bags full of wickets in matches and has been a threat to the best of batsmen around the world for years.
Records of Lasith Malinga
- Lasith is the only bowler in the world to take two hat-tricks in World Cups.
- Malinga also made the record for taking three hat-tricks in ODIs.
- With his golden sling arm action, this bowler is the only player to take four wickets in four balls. Malinga did this magic twice, once in South Africa in March 2007 and then against New Zealand in 2019.
- He is the first bowler to take a hundred wickets in T20 International Cricket.
- Lasith Malinga also holds the record for claiming the most number of hat-tricks in International Cricket, i.e., he has taken five hat-tricks across all formats of the game.
- Malinga has also made the record for the highest 9th wicket partnership in an ODI. It was against Australia in 2010 with Angelo Mathews at the other end.
Lasith Malinga’s Retirement
- On 22 April 2011, Malinga announced his retirement from Test Cricket.
- Malinga also subsequently retired from ODI Cricket on 26 July 2019.
Lasith Malinga’s Bowling Action
Malinga’s bowling style has always been the talk of the town, intriguing every cricket pundit out there. His delivery action looks similar to 'slinging,' which led him to be called "Slinga Malinga.”
Sir Vivian Richards greatly admired Lasith Malinga’s bowling and was impressed during the 2007 Cricket World Cup in the Caribbean, saying that he is the best cricketer that the Sri Lankan team has seen after Arvinda De Silva.
In an interview, Malinga said that he used to ball with a tennis ball in his early playing days, which resulted in his unique round-arm bowling action.
International Career
L Malinga made his test debut against Australian Team at Marrara Oval in Darwin on 1st July 2004 and it proved to be a successful debut as he took six wickets, giving away only 90 runs in the match. This extraordinary bowler balls with a lively pace and possesses an array of different variations that include a well-delivered bouncer between 140 and 150 km/hr and sometimes faster. His slower one is faster than some of the medium-pacers out there, clocking around 130km/h.
When Sri Lanka toured New Zealand in 2007, his low-slung delivery action troubled the batsman a lot. In fact, the New Zealand batsmen requested the umpire to wear different coloured trousers as they were unable to spot the ball while it was being delivered. Malinga is the third player to reach 100 wickets for Sri Lanka.
Malinga was never able to show his full potential in Test cricket, but it was mostly because of his injuries. This also made him take retirement from Tests at the young age of 27. Lasith Malinga made his ODI debut against the United Arab Emirates in Sri Lanka in the opening match of Asia Cup 2004. He took one wicket of captain Khurram Khan while conceding 39 runs in the match.
Lasith Malinga’s Stats
BATTING CAREER SUMMARY
| M | Inn | NO | Runs | HS | Avg | BF | SR | 100 | 200 | 50 | 4s | 6s | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Test | 30 | 37 | 13 | 275 | 64 | 11.46 | 619 | 44.43 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 36 | 6 |
| ODI | 226 | 120 | 37 | 567 | 56 | 6.83 | 761 | 74.51 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 45 | 21 |
| T20I | 83 | 33 | 12 | 136 | 27 | 6.48 | 161 | 84.47 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 9 | 5 |
| IPL | 122 | 25 | 9 | 88 | 17 | 5.5 | 99 | 88.89 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 6 | 5 |
BOWLING CAREER SUMMARY
| M | Inn | B | Runs | Wkts | BBI | BBM | Econ | Avg | SR | 5W | 10W | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Test | 30 | 59 | 5209 | 3349 | 101 | 5/50 | 9/210 | 3.86 | 33.16 | 51.57 | 3 | 0 |
| ODI | 226 | 220 | 10936 | 9759 | 338 | 6/38 | 6/38 | 5.35 | 28.87 | 32.36 | 8 | 0 |
| T20I | 83 | 83 | 1799 | 2225 | 107 | 5/6 | 5/6 | 7.42 | 20.79 | 16.81 | 2 | 0 |
| IPL | 122 | 122 | 2827 | 3365 | 170 | 5/13 | 5/13 | 7.14 | 19.79 | 16.63 | 1 | 0 |
World Cup Journey
The World Cup has always been great for L Malinga and has witnessed many of his outstanding performances.
In the 2007 World Cup Super-8 match played on 28 March against South Africa, he became the first player to take 4 wickets in 4 consecutive balls in ODIs. It was the 5th hat-trick in World Cup history, 3rd ODI hat-trick for Sri Lanka and 24th in ODIs. Sri Lanka, though, ended up losing the match. But Lasith Malinga was included in ICC’s and Cricinfo’s teams of the tournament.
In the 2011 World Cup, Malinga grabbed his 2nd hat-trick and became the first bowler to take two World Cup hat-tricks. His magnificent spell against Australia, where he bagged 5 wickets for 28 runs, was his best for that year.
T20 Franchise Career
Lasith Malinga’s IPL journey started in 2008 with Mumbai Indians, was picked up for $350,000 and has been with them ever since. In his first match against Delhi Daredevils , Malinga got five wickets, wrapping the team up for only 95 runs.
His best bowling performance came in club level T20 when he took six wickets for just 7 runs for Melbourne Stars against Perth Scorchers in December 2012. It was the only 6th wicket haul in the Australian Big Bash League.
Lasith Malinga won the Purple Cap in the 2011 edition of the IPL. In 2018, Malinga was appointed as the bowling mentor of Mumbai Indians . He has played 127 matches in IPL and Champions League T20.
In the 2012 Champions League T20, Lasith Malinga was the highest wicket-taker and won the Golden wicket, along with winning the Player of the Tournament award. This fantastic bowler is also the highest wicket-taker for the MI side, with 178 wickets at an economy rate of 6.88. Malinga was part of the Mumbai Indians squad in 2020 as well but had opted out due to personal reasons. He was released by the franchise ahead of the IPL 2021 Auctions. Will we see him coaching in the 2021 season? It remains to be seen.
Personal Information
Lasith Malinga was born on 28th August 1983 at Galle in Sri Lanka. He married Tanya Parera on 22 January 2010, who is a dancer and choreographer. They are proud parents of a son and a daughter. Lasith Malinga’s height is 1.7 m and he weighs 75 kgs.
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