Lasith Malinga shone in his farewell match as Sri Lanka defeated Bangladesh by 91 runs in the first One-Day International of a three-match series in Colombo on Friday.
Malinga rattled Bangladesh with his fiery opening spell, reducing the visitors to 39/4 in the process, without allowing them to recover from the damage. The 35-year-old finished with figures of 3/38 to mark the end of a glorious career.
‘Go well champion’: Twitter bids adieu to Lasith Malinga after his final ODI game for Sri Lanka
“I feel it’s the right time for me to retire from ODIs. I have been playing for the last 15 years for Sri Lanka and this is the right time to move on,” Malinga, who finished his ODI career with 338 wickets, said after the game. “My time is over and I have to go.”
Having made his ODI debut way back in 2004, Malinga retires as an absolute legend of the format.
Here are the key numbers from his remarkable one-day career:
- He took 56 wickets in World Cup matches, which is the third highest overall.
- He took three hat-tricks in ODIs, which is the most among all bowlers in history.
- He took eight five-wicket hauls in ODIs, which is the fifth-highest overall.
- He took 29 wickets in Asia Cup matches, which is the second highest overall.
- He finishes with a bowling strike-rate of 24.7 in ODI victories, which is the best among bowlers with a minimum of 150 wickets in wins.
Lasith Malinga ODI career
— Deepu Narayanan (@deeputalks) July 26, 2019
226 ODIs
338 wkts
Avg 28.87
SR 32.3
ER 5.35
8 X 5-fers
Best 6/38#ThankYouMalinga #SLvBAN
Lasith Malinga in ODIs
— Mohandas Menon (@mohanstatsman) July 27, 2019
1 - 6 wkt haul (0.45%)
7 - 5 wkt hauls (3.18%)
11 - 4 wkt hauls (5.00%)
26 - 3 wkt hauls (11.81%)
52 - 2 wkt hauls 23.64%)
71 - 1 wkt hauls (32.27%)
52 - wicket-less (23.64%)
Most ODI wickets:
— Bharath Seervi (@SeerviBharath) July 26, 2019
534 Muralitharan
502 Wasim
416 Waqar
400 Vaas
395 Afridi
393 Pollock
381 McGrath
380 Lee
338 MALINGA
337 Kumble
Among top-10 only Lee (29.4) and Waqar (30.5) have a better strike rate (balls per wicket) than Malinga’s 32.3. #ThankYouMalinga - one of a kind!
Lasith Malinga in ODIs....
— Mohandas Menon (@mohanstatsman) July 26, 2019
1st wicket: Khurrum Khan (UAE) off his 22nd ball (Dambulla, 2004) on 17 Jul 2004 (#AsiaCup)
338th wicket: Mustafizur Rahim (Ban) off his 10936th ball (Premadasa Stadium, Colombo, 2019) on 26 Jul 2019 (his final delivery in ODIs).#SLvBan#BanvSL
Malinga dismissing batsmen for ducks twice in his ODI career:
— Bharath Seervi (@SeerviBharath) July 26, 2019
Virender Sehwag
Mohammad Hafeez
Tamim Iqbal #SLvBan
Between 2006 and 2013, no other bowler took more wickets than Malinga's 267, this despite him missing 15 months of action in 2008-09 owing to knee troubles.@deeputalks looks back at Malinga's career in numbers:
— Cricbuzz (@cricbuzz) July 25, 2019
🔗 https://t.co/QyEGoawtBZ pic.twitter.com/cb7T0rma7v