Sri Lankan slinger Lasith Malinga recently announced his retirement from ODIs after playing his last match against Bangladesh in July 2019. He finished as Sri Lanka’s third-highest wicket-taker in ODIs with 335 wickets in 219 innings, only preceded by some of the greats of the game like Muttiah Muralitharan (523) and Chaminda Vaas (399).
Read: Malinga slings’ his way to eternity in his ‘final ODI
Alongside this, he also holds the record of scalping three ODI hat-tricks, two of which have come in the World Cups, another record in itself. He is also the only bowler till date to have taken four wickets in four consecutive deliveries in any format of the game.
Here we take a look at five of the best bowling spells in the Sri Lankan legend’s career:
4/54 vs South Africa (2007)
Malinga chose the biggest stage in world cricket to create history. Sri Lanka were facing South Africa in a Super Eight match at the 2007 Cricket World Cup. The Proteas looked poised at easily reaching the target of 210 and needed just 4 runs off 32 deliveries to win with 5 wickets in hand. But in came Lasith Malinga. He took four wickets in four consecutive deliveries to dismiss Shaun Pollock, Andrew Hall, Jacques Kallis and Makhaya Ntini in one go.
Malinga’s heroics would have just pulled off one of the greatest comebacks in cricket history, but unfortunately, South Africa managed to score the remaining runs in the 48th over.
6/7 vs Perth Scorchers (2012)
Malinga’s reputation as a lethal death-over specialist and wicket-taking fast bowler brought him to the Australian T20 league’s Melbourne side in 2012. In just his second game for the franchise, Malinga recorded his best ever spell in T20. He gave away just seven runs and took six wickets from his four overs of which, one was a maiden. The Perth side could manage to put only 69 runs on the board before being bowled out.
0/27 vs India (2014)
These figures of 0/27 may not seem worthy of making it to the list, but it is surely one of the best spells he has ever bowled. Having previously lost four ICC tournament finals - the 2007 World Cup, 2009 T20 World Cup, 2011 World Cup and 2012 T20 World Cup - they were facing India in the 2014 T20 World Cup final.
India, batting first, could only manage to get 130 runs on the board, thanks to Lasith Malinga and Nuwan Kulasekara, who came up with a plan to bowl wide yorkers. When the Lankans came out to bat, they easily chased the low target with six wickets in hand and 14 balls left. Malinga’s contribution was crucial in the island nation finally lifting an ICC trophy, after being runners-up in four previous occasions.
1/5 (Super Over) vs New Zealand
Sri Lanka batted first in the maiden T20I Super Over to set New Zealand a target of 14 runs for victory in the 2016 T20 World Cup. Lankan captain Mahela Jayawardene chose Malinga as the bowler to defend the total in six balls. But even the likes of Brendon McCullum, Martin Guptill and Ross Taylor had no chance against the slinger, as he gave away just five runs to clinch a nail-biting victory for his team.
5/13 vs Delhi’s T20 team
Undoubtedly one of the best T20 bowlers ever, Malinga played for the Mumbai franchise of the Indian T20 League, pulling several match-winning performances for his team. One such instance was his figures in the 2011 edition against the Delhi-based franchise, where he took a five-wicket haul, giving away just 13 runs in his quota of four overs. This led to Delhi’s batting unit putting up a meagre 95 on the board.
Feature Image Courtesy: AFP/ Ishara S. Kodikara
