A great bows out – Lasith Malinga retires

Sri Lanka cricketing legend Lasith Malinga has announced his retirement from all forms of the sport at the age of 38.

The fast bowler confirmed his decision to end his T20 career having previously retired from Test cricket in 2011 and ODIs in 2019.

His famous unorthodox bowling action caught the eyes of cricket lovers and casuals alike as he leaves the sport as one of the best fans have seen.

T20’s greatest

Malinga retires as the leading wicket-taker in T20 internationals with 107 wickets in 84 games. Only DJ Bravo has more wickets in the T20 format but has played over 200 more games than the Sri Lankan.

He holds the record for most wickets taken via bowled with 43, which amounted to 40% of his total. He also has the best bowling figures in an innings by a captain as he took five wickets for just six runs against New Zealand in 2019.

However, his best achievement as captain of his country came up at the 2014 T20 World Cup where he led Sri Lanka to their first trophy in the format as they beat India by six wickets. This star-studded Sri Lanka line-up included the likes of Tillakaratne Dilshan, Mahela Jayawardene, and Kumar Sangakkara. The latter congratulated his former teammate on his career.

Records and achievements

Although not being as prolific in ODIs as he was in the T20s, Malinga was still very much a threat in the 50-over game. He ranks fifth for most five-wicket hauls with 8 and also four-wicket hauls with 19.

His batting record in the format however is very hit or miss. He holds the record for most consecutive ducks (4) but also is fifth for most runs in an innings by a batsman at number 10 with 56 runs.

The seamer finishes his career with 546 wickets in all formats (28th best) and comes in at number six for most wickets taken bowled. His devasting yorkers and high speed proved to be too difficult for batsmen to deal with in the white ball game.

‘Slinga Malinga’ became not only the first bowler to take 100 T20I wickets but also the first to pick up 100 wickets in all three formats of the game. No one has more international hat-tricks (5) than the 38-year-old, including two of them occurring at the 2007 and 2011 World Cups respectively.

He is the highest wicket-taker in IPL history after enjoying an enterprising spell with the Mumbai Indians, where he now coaches.

Arguably his greatest individual achievement in the sport is being the only player in history to have taken four wickets in consecutive balls on not one but two separate occasions. The first happened earlier in his career in 2007 against South Africa in the Super Eight stage of the World Cup.

The second happened in 2019 at Pallekele against New Zealand and it was twice as sweet this time round as his first of the four brought up his 100th T20I wicket.

With the T20 World Cup coming very soon, Sri Lankan fans will hope someone can produce the magic and genius bowling that Malinga provided at the start and more importantly end of the innings.

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