Lasith Malinga - Most Wickets Taken in IPL Finals History

Lore & Background

Malinga grew up in modest circumstances in Rathgama, a coastal village near Galle. He was discovered by former Sri Lankan paceman Champaka Ramanayake, who helped him join the Galle Cricket Club and later the first XI of Mahinda College, Galle. Malinga is known for his distinctive round-arm action, earning him the nickname 'Slinga Malinga'. He is the only bowler in the world to have two World Cup hat-tricks and the first to take a double hat-trick.

In Their Own Story

The air inside Wankhede Stadium was thick with tension, the crowd's roar a deafening wall of sound as the final over approached. Lasith Malinga walked to the crease, his eyes fixed on the batter, ignoring the chaos around him. He signaled for the yorker, ran in with that characteristic low-arm action, and delivered a ball that skidded onto the turf like a laser beam. The bat swung wildly but missed; the stumps crashed down. Silence followed for a split second before the stadium erupted, knowing another chapter of Mumbai's history had been written by the left-arm wizard.

Reader's Guide

Malinga's unorthodox action and dipping slower ball yorkers are credited with much of his success. He changed the dynamics of death bowling in limited overs cricket. He is known for taking wickets on consecutive balls, often through in-swinging yorkers. He announced his retirement from Test cricket on 22 April 2011, from ODI cricket on 26 July 2019, and from all forms of cricket on 14 September 2021.

Did You Know?

• Malinga is the only bowler to take 4 wickets in 4 balls twice in international cricket.
• He is the first bowler to take 100 wickets in Twenty20 International cricket.
• Dinesh Chandimal captained Sri Lanka to the 2014 T20 World Cup title, with Angelo Mathews leading the team overall during the tournament.
• He was nicknamed 'daakaththa' (the sickle) by his teammates during club cricket.