Lasith Malinga's 3 best spells in the Asia Cup
Bleached curly hair, the famous ball kiss before every delivery, the unorthodox slingy action with the curl on the ball—Lasith Malinga's description can't be completed without these.
He was truly the last superstar Sri Lankan cricket witnessed before their never-ending transition started around 2014–15. His 145-kmph rockets broke many a toe and carved out a niche for themselves in the annals of world cricket as death-over specialists.
In a country where legends like Muttiah Muralitharan have made cult status with their spin bowling and pitches are more conducive for spinners, Lasith Malinga made a special mark for himself with his searing pinpoint yorkers.
With the legend celebrating his 40th birthday on August 28, let's look at some of Lasith Malinga's best spells from the Asia Cup, where he is the leading wicket taker, having taken 33 wickets, including two fifers, and wish him a very happy birthday.
Lasith Malinga's three best spells in the Asia Cup
#3 5/34 against Pakistan, Dambulla, 2010
On a sluggish Dambulla wicket, where strokemaking was difficult, Sri Lankan batsmen struggled to get going.
Most of them got starts, but only Kumar Sangakkara and Angelo Mathews converted their starts into significant contributions, taking the team's total to a challenging total of 242/9.
Pakistan, after initial jitters, somehow found themselves in the driver's seat thanks to a breathtaking century from Shahid Afridi (109 off 76 balls), who counterattacked and smoked everything that came his way.
At 205/6, it was Pakistan's game to lose with Afridi still out there in the middle. But Lasith Malinga had other ideas.
He had earlier rocked the top order with the new ball, but when Muralitharan got Afridi stumped, Malinga was too hot to handle for the lower order as Pakistan fell short of 16 runs.
#2 5/56 against Pakistan, Mirpur, 2014 Final
Lasith Malinga was the lone warrior fighting for Sri Lanka in bowling, as he took all five wickets that fell in Pakistan's innings and restricted them to a sub-300 total, 260 to be precise.
Once again, Malinga rocked Pakistan's top order with some astute swing bowling upfront, reducing them to 18/3. But Misbah-ul-Haq and Fawad Alam steadied the innings, with the latter completing a brilliant century in the 2014 Asia Cup final.
But it was Umar Akmal's late flourish that gave some respectability to the total. Also, had it not been for Malinga's superb death bowling, the total could have been a par total of 300+.
#1 4/23 against Bangladesh, Dubai, 2018
On a spicy Dubai pitch, Lasith Malinga showed the world his class once again at the age of 35, picking up a four-for against a strong Bangladesh batting line-up in the Asia Cup 2018.
With Tamim Iqbal getting injured while batting and the team losing 2 wickets for just a solitary run, all thanks to Malinga's superb new ball bowling, where he looked to pitch it up, making the batsman play, Bangladesh found themselves in a hole.
But Mushfiqur Rahim and Mohammad Mithun took their time and rebuilt the innings with some smart, calculative batting, with the former smashing a memorable century and propelling the score to a stiff total of 261 runs.
But it was once again Malinga who shined in the death overs, where he gave absolutely nothing, picking up two crucial wickets in that phase.