‘Slinga Malinga’ retires from all forms of Cricket

World: Renowned Bowler of Sri Lankan cricket – Lasith Malinga announced his retirement from all forms of cricket. 

He is also known as ‘Slinga Malinga’ and has played 295 matches in the T20 cricket while taking in a total of 390 wickets. He earlier had already announced his retirement from Tests in 2011 and from ODIs in the year 2019. 

Malinga was also the first bowler to bag 100 T20I wickets prior to ending with 107 scalps. Malinga’s unorthodox action and dipping slower ball yorkers are recognised with much of his success.  

Malinga’s Career – 

Malinga made his first debut on 1 July 2004 in the match against Australia in which he took six wickets and made his place and name among the shining stars of cricket. After his this debut match, Malinga was given one of the match stumps in the Sri Lankan dressing room by Australian former cricketer Adam Gilchrist. 

Malinga made his ODI debut in – Sri Lanka’s opening match of the 2004 Asia Cup against the United Arab Emirates, fitting the 123rd player to do so, in which he took the wicket of the – Emirati captain, Khurram Khan, to finish the match with 1/39. 

During the Cricket World Cup 2007 Super 8 match held on 28 March between Sri Lanka vs South Africa, Malinga became the first player to take 4 wickets in four back-to-back balls in One Day International cricket. This was only the 5 th hat-trick in World Cup history that Malinga created history by taking them. 

While during the Cricket World Cup 2021, Malinga took his second career hat-trick in Sri Lanka’s stage match against Kenya, which made him to write the history again and made him the first bowler to take 2 World Cup hat-tricks, and the 4th to take two hat-tricks in all – One Day International cricket (beside Wasim Akram, Saqlain Mushtaq and Chaminda Vaas). 

Malinga has also suffered back and knee injuries after his West Indies tour, but this even could not stop him from achieving his ‘dreams’ and engraving his name in the history of cricket. After this, Malinga was appointed as the captain for the – 2016 Asia Cup, where he was only able to play against UAE, but with a match-winning bowling performance. Because of the injury, he had to skip the rest of the matches, which were all lost by the Sri Lankan cricket team.   

Malinga was also named as the – vice-captain of the Sri Lankan Twenty20 International team in the month of October 2012, became captain of the Sri Lankan Cricket Team in the – 2014 ICC World Twenty20 after Dinesh Chandimal underwent a ban. On 14 December in the year 2018, Malinga was appointed as the limited over captain for the New Zealand tour. 

After a one year gap to recover from his injuries, the Sri Lankan bowler came bigger, better and stronger. 

Early years of Malinga’s Life – 

Born on 28 August 1983, he inspired several lives with his determination and hard work to play international cricket. Malinga grew up in the modest circumstances in Rathgama – a coastal village situated 12 km northwest of Galle. He often played cricket with friends on the sandbanks and coconut groves by a river in his cricket-obsessed village. 

He didn’t pick up hard-ball cricket until almost in his teens, but his talent was discovered by fast bowling coaches – Champaka Ramanayake and Anusha Ramanayake. Both of them brought him to the domestic system and nurtured him during his early years. 

Records created by Malinga in the cricket history – 

• The only bowler to take two 4 wicket hauls in consecutive balls in international cricket (vs South Africa March 2007 and New Zealand 2019). 
• The first bowler to take – 100 T20I wickets.
• First bowler to pick up 100 wickets across all three formats of international cricket (Tests, ODIs and T20Is).
• He holds the joint record along with Umar Gul, Ajantha Mendis, Rashid Khan, Imran Tahir and Ashton Agar for having taken the higher number of fifers in Twenty20 Internationals with 2.
• Highest ninth-wicket partnership in an ODI: 132 runs with Angelo Matthews against Australia in 2010. 
• Malinga is the fourth-highest wicket-taker across all forms of T20 cricket with 390 scalps just behind Dwayne Bravo, Imran Tahir and Sunil Narine.
• Second highest wicket-taker in Men’s – T20 World Cups with a record tally of 38, just one behind Shahid Afridi.

• He took 195 wickets for Mumbai Indians in both IPL and Champions League T20 competitions which is the most for a bowler representing a particular team in T20 cricket.
• He holds the joint record with Andrew Ellis for picking the most wickets against a particular opposition in T20 cricket with 37. Malinga secured 37 scalps against Chennai Super Kings in a time period from 2008 to 2019.
• He has taken five-wicket hauls in T20 cricket five times in his career, just one behind David Wiese’s record six fifers in the format.
• He holds the record for having taken a higher number of four-wicket hauls in the T20s with 15.
• He holds the best bowling figures by any bowler in the men’s edition of Australia’s Big Bash T20 league. 6/7 for Melbourne Stars against Perth Scorchers.
• The first bowler to take 100 and 150 wickets in the history of the Indian Premier League.

‘Where there is a will, there’s a way,’ well suits for Malinga. His fans are sad over his retirement as they won’t be able to see him on the field again and also wishes him all the best for his life ahead.