Lasith Malinga to retire from ODI cricket after the first match against BangladeshÂ
Sri Lankan skipper Dimuth Karunaratne announced that superstar Lasith Malinga will retire after the first one-day international against Bangladesh on July 26th at Colombo. He will only be retiring from 50-overs cricket with the World T20 in Australia set to be his last global event in Sri Lankan colours.
Earlier in the year, Lasith Malinga, fondly referred to as 'Slinga Malinga' mentioned that he had planned to retire after the World Cup. He was arguably Sri Lanka's best fast-bowler in the tournament by picking up 13 wickets and also played a huge part in the side's upset win over eventual champions England in the league phase.
However, during the World Cup, the 35-year-old had made a wish to play his farewell game in Sri Lanka along with his compatriot Nuwan Kulasekara. He added that Kulasekara had played for the country over 10 years and deserved a farewell due to that. Yet, it looks like the wish wasn't entertained with the Sri Lankan selectors not picking Kulasekara for the three-match ODI series.
At the end of the opening ODI, Malinga will end his illustrious international career having picked 335 wickets in 225 ODI games so far. Malinga will end his career as Sri Lanka's third-highest ODI wicket-taker after Muttiah Muralitharan (523) and Chaminda Vaas (399). He is well known in the international circuit as a limited-overs specialist and his ability to execute deadly yorkers and slower balls with utmost ease has been a trademark. His unique action has also gained him a lot of fans not just in Sri Lanka but across the world.
Over the years, even though the talismanic fast-bowler has lost quite a bit of pace, his experience and nous gathered over several international and T20 league matches have helped him to forge a successful back-end in his cricketing career.
The same nous was seen in the Indian Premier League when he helped his side Mumbai Indians get over the line in the final against Chennai Super Kings to lift the team's fourth title and with the pacer set to focus on T20 leagues across the world, his bag of tricks could be of vital importance to a number of franchises across the world.