Lasith Malinga retires from ODI cricket

Lasith Malinga retired from one-day internationals after Sri Lanka registered 91-runs win over Bangladesh in Colombo. 

Malinga returned with impressive figures of 3/38 in his final ODI to help Sri Lanka beat Bangladesh.

Sri Lanka posted 314 runs losing eight wickets in their stipulated 50 overs against Bangladesh after winning the toss and batting first in the first of three ODIs at R Premadasa Stadium in Colombo.

Bangladesh never looked comfortable. Mushfiqur Rahim’s 67 off 86 deliveries and Sabbir Rahman’s 60 off 56 balls in the middle could only help Tigers reach 223 in 41.4 overs as they fell short by 91 runs.

In his final match, Malinga recorded figures of 3/38 in 9.3 overs. He finished his career with a wicket in his final ball.

Malinga is currently 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.

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 owing to knee troubles.

Malinga also finished as the team’s highest wicket-taker during the recently concluded World Cup 2019 where he took 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). He had already retired from Test in 2011.

Since his 2004 debut against the United Arab Emirates, Malinga has played 225 ODIs and his unusual slingy action and an ability to bowl yorkers have made him a formidable bowler in limited-overs cricket.

Malinga’s 56 wickets from 29 matches put him third, behind Australian Glenn McGrath (71) and fellow Sri Lankan Muttiah Muralitharan (68), in the list of most successful bowlers in the history of the World Cup.

The right-arm paceman, a sought-after player in Twenty20 leagues, has also played 30 tests though he quit the long format in 2011 after battling a nagging knee injury.

-Agencies