Lasith Malinga bids adieu to 50-over cricket
Lasith Malinga retired from one-day internationals after Sri Lanka’s run win over Bangladesh on Saturday. The right-arm paceman finished his ODI career as the 9th highest wicket-taker by taking 338 wickets.
Malinga returned with impressive figures of 3/38 in his final ODI to help Sri Lanka beat Bangladesh.
Retiring Malinga took wickets of Tamim Iqbal (0) and Soumya Sarkar (15) in his first spell and dismissed Mustafizur Rahman (18) on the last delivery of his ODI career.
“I feel it’s the right time for me to retire from ODIs. I have been playing for the last 15 years for Sri Lanka and this is the right time to move on”, said Malinga in the post-match presentation.
Malinga, who finished his ODI career with 338 wickets, said, “My time is over and I have to go.”
“I tried my best throughout my career. Some of the young bowlers in the country have a good ability, so they need to try and produce match-winning spells. You have to be a match-winner for your team, that’s my advice”, he further added.
#ThankYouMalinga👑 pic.twitter.com/HYqCO0sx08
— Sri Lanka Cricket 🇱🇰 (@OfficialSLC) July 26, 2019
On his retirement, Malinga finished as the 3rd highest wicket-taker in ODI cricket for Sri Lanka with 338 wickets in 220 innings with only Muttiah Muralitharan (523) and Chaminda Vaas (399) above him on the list.
Since his 2004 debut against the United Arab Emirates, Malinga has played 225 ODIs. He has been one of a formidable bowler in limited-overs cricket due to his unusual slingy action and an ability to bowl Yorkers.
In the recently concluded 2019 world cup, Malinga also finished as the team’s highest wicket-taker, he claimed 13 scalps in 7 innings.
Malinga is also the only bowler to have taken 2 World Cup hat-tricks (2007 vs South Africa, 2011 vs Kenya).
Between 2006 and 2013, no other bowler took more wickets than Malinga’s 267, this despite him missing 15 months of action in 2008-09 due to knee troubles.
The right-arm paceman, a sought-after player in Twenty20 leagues. He has also played 30 tests, however, he quit the long format in 2011 after battling a nagging knee injury.
