On August 28, 1983, former Sri Lanka pacer Lasith Malinga was born to Separamadu Milton and Swarna Thenuwara in Galle. His talent was spotted by his fast-bowling coaches Champaka Ramanayake and Anusha
Samaranayake. Both players played a vital role in bringing him to Sri Lanka’s domestic circuit and developing his bowling skills. On July 1, 2004, he broke into international cricket with the Test match between Australia and Sri Lanka in Darwin. The match ended in Australia’s favour by 149 runs but Malinga looked decent with the ball as he picked 2/50 and 4/42 figures.
After 16 days, the speedster made his One-Day International (ODI) debut against the United Arab Emirates (UAE) in the Asia Cup 2004 game played in Dambulla. His notable performance came in the Cricket World Cup 2007 played in the West Indies. In the Super 8 game against South Africa in Guyana, he picked up wickets on four conecutive deliveries and became the second Sri Lanka bowler to grab a hattrick in World Cups. The speedster grabbed 18 wickets in eight matches and ended up as the fifth-leading wicket-taker in the competition. In 2009, when Sri Lanka concluded their T20 World Cup 2009 campaign as runners-up, Malinga picked up 12 wickets in seven matches at an economy of 7.14 and ended up as the second-most successful bowler with Pakistan’s Saeed Ajmal and Ajantha Mendis.
Lasith Malinga won the T20 World Cup 2014 as Sri Lanka’s stand-in captain
In The T20 World Cup 2014, Lasith Malinga became the stand-in skipper of Sri Lanka after the regular skipper Dinesh Chadimal’s exit from the tournament. Handling the captaincy mantle, Malinga amassed courage and guided the side to their maiden title win with the victory against India in the final played in Dhaka. In September 2021, Malinga retired from all forms of cricket after playing professional sport for more than 20 years. He is the third-highest wicket-taker for Sri Lanka with 546 wickets in 340 games across all formats.
Malinga was also a vital member of Mumbai Indians (MI) in theIndian Premier League (IPL). Serving Mumbai from 2009 to 2019, he clinched 195 wickets in 139 matches at an economy of 7.12. With these numbers, he is the most successful bowler for Mumbai in the cash-rich T20 tournament.
