It looks like Lasith Malinga has hanged up his boots. Mumbai Indians has released him, and on that note, his illustrious career comes to an end. Without a doubt, Lasith Malinga is the greatest bowler in the history of the Indian Premier League.
He was one of the most important players for Mumbai Indians. He played nine seasons for them and was the highest wicket-taker in five of those seasons.
He has the most number of wickets (170) under his name. He became the first bowler to take 100 wickets in the IPL back in 2013. Among the bowlers who have more than 100 dismissals under their name, Lasith Malinga has the best bowling figure, best average, and best strike rate. Barring the 2017 season, he has always taken 15 or more wickets in every season.
After the 2017 season, Mumbai Indians released him. No other team picked him in the auctions, and he went unsold. He returned to the franchise as the bowling mentor for that year.
Next year, he was again back in the auction pool with a base price of 2 crores. Mumbai Indians picked him for his base price. He didn’t disappoint them and picked up 16 wickets in that season.
He missed the last season of the Indian Premier League. He will be back in the auction pool again. Will we see a resurrection of Malinga or the chapter named Malinga is over? Only time will tell.
We have summarized the top three performances by Lasith Malinga in the history of the Indian Premier League.
1. Mumbai Indians against Delhi Daredevils (April 10, 2011)
It was the fourth match of the season. Delhi’s captain Virender Sehwag won the toss and elected to bat first. Lasith Malinga came in to bowl the second over of the innings.
The second ball of the over and Malinga bowled a yorker to David Warner. Warner had no answer to the yorker apart from sacrificing his wicket.
Unmukt Chand was the new man in. Chand blocked the first ball of his career in IPL, which was again a yorker. But he succumbed to the next delivery of Malinga. Chand was also clean bowled by him.
He came in to bowl his second over of the innings. Sehwag was the man at the crease. Malinga bowled six legitimate delivery, and Sehwag blocked each of them. Malinga bowled an over to Sehwag without conceding any runs. Post-match, Sehwag mentioned he played a maiden over after around ten years.
The next two overs of Malinga was a carnage. He finished with a career-best figure of 13 for 5. He clean bowled four batsmen.
2. Mumbai Indians against Chennai Super Kings (May 26, 2013)
Mumbai Indians and Chennai Super Kings were playing the final of the season at the Eden Gardens. CSK had won the trophy on two occasions previously. They defeated Mumbai Indians in 2010 to win their first trophy.
Mumbai Indians won the toss and elected to bat first. They managed to put up 148 runs on the board. Kieron Pollard was the top-scorer for them. He scored 60 off 32 deliveries.
Malinga was there to bowl the first over of the innings. He bowled Michael Hussey for a duck on the fourth ball of the over. On the very next delivery, Suresh Raina nicked a short ball and gave an easy catch to Dwayne Smith, who was standing at backward square-leg. The scorecard at the end of the over was at 2 for 2.
Chennai Super Kings never stood up after the punches given by Malinga in the first over. Dhoni, however, tried his luck. But there was no one to support him in the chase.
Chennai Super Kings lost the match and the trophy by 23 runs. Mumbai Indians managed to win their first IPL trophy. It was one of the best performances of Malinga in the history of the Indian Premier League.
3. Mumbai Indians against Chennai Super Kings (May 12, 2019)
Another IPL final and again two of the best teams fighting to become the four-time winners. Mumbai Indians won the toss and decided to bat first.
MI had a good start but failed to capitalize on that. Wickets kept on falling at the regular interval. Kieron Pollard again managed to give some hopes to the blue squad by scoring 41 off 25 balls. With that inning, MI somehow managed to put up a total of 149 runs.
CSK’s openers were in a good mood and wanted to finish the game early. But the breakthrough came for MI in the form of du Plessis’ wicket. He scored 26 off 13 deliveries.
Post that, it was a battle between Shane Watson and MI’s bowlers. No other CSK batsmen, apart from Bravo, managed to score a double-digit score.
On the last ball of the nineteenth over, de Kock didn’t collect the ball properly behind the wicket. The ball went for a four. CSK needed nine runs off the last six balls.
CSK’s batsmen thrashed Lasith Malinga all over the park. But he was ready to bowl the ultimate over of the match. He gave away only four runs of the first three deliveries. Shane Watson was run out while taking a second run of the fourth delivery. CSK needed four runs in order to win the match. Two runs came off the penultimate delivery. The last ball of the final, Malinga was bowling to Shardul Thakur. Malinga bowled a slow-yorker which hit Shardul on his leg. Lasith Malinga dismissed Shardul Thakur.
Mumbai Indians won their fourth title. Lasith Malinga won everyone’s heart. Both the parties were happy.
He was once given the title of greatest of all time (G.O.A.T.) in the history of the Indian Premier League. Surely, no one can have a doubt about this title.
No doubt!! He’s a GOAT 🔥