Lasith Malinga
Right-arm fast bowler known for his sling action and death bowling mastery.
Separamadu Lasith Malinga (born 28 August 1983) is a Sri Lankan former cricketer who is widely regarded as one of the greatest limited overs bowlers of all time. Playing as a right-arm fast bowler, Malinga was commonly used as a specialist death bowler, and captained the Sri Lanka national cricket team to the 2014 T20 World Cup title. He was nicknamed 'Slinga Malinga' due to his distinctive round-arm action, sometimes referred to as a sling action. He announced his retirement from all forms of cricket on 14 September 2021.
- Role
- Left-arm wrist spin / death-overs specialist
- Nationality
- Sri Lankan
- IPL Affiliation
- Delhi Daredevils (now Delhi Capitals)
- Signature Delivery
- The yorker (low, slicing, left-arm wrist spin)
- Notable Title
- IPL 2008 Champions (with Delhi Daredevils)
- Bowling Style
- Left-arm wrist spin (chinaman), known for extreme variation in pace and line
Lore & Background
Malinga grew up in modest circumstances in Rathgama, a coastal village 12 km northwest of Galle. He often played cricket with friends on sand banks and coconut groves by a river. His father Separamadu Milton is a retired bus mechanic. He attended Mahinda College, Vidyaloka College, and Maha Vidyalaya. He was discovered by former Sri Lankan paceman Champaka Ramanayake, who helped him join Galle Cricket Club and Mahinda College. Malinga practices Buddhism and married Tanya Perera in 2010.
In Their Own Story
The floodlights at the Delhi stadium hummed their low electric note. Malinga jogged in, his white DC jersey catching the light, and the crowd noise swelled into a single sustained roar. He bounced the ball twice, looked up at the batter's eyes, and delivered. The yorker kissed the turf, sliced just enough to make the pull swing wide, and the stumps stood. The next ball—same action, same release—found the same spot. The batter's bat clipped the ground and the stadium exhaled. Malinga turned, raised one finger to the sky, and the Delhi faithful roared as if the title had already been sealed. It hadn't. But for those two overs, it might as well had been.
Reader's Guide
Malinga is a right-arm fast bowler known for his unorthodox round-arm action and dipping slower ball yorkers. He changed the dynamics of death bowling in limited overs cricket. He is the only bowler in the world to have two World Cup hat-tricks, the first to take a double hat-trick, the only to take 4 wickets in 4 balls twice in international cricket, the only to have three hat-tricks in ODIs, and the only to have two double hat-tricks. He holds the record for most hat-tricks in international cricket and was the first to take 100 wickets in T20I cricket.
Did You Know?
- Malinga is the only bowler to have taken three hat-tricks in ODIs.
- He took four wickets in four consecutive balls in the 2007 Cricket World Cup against South Africa.
- He was the first bowler to claim two T20I hat-tricks.
- Malinga captained Sri Lanka to the 2014 T20 World Cup title.
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