Sri Lanka bowling great Lasith Malinga on Tuesday announced his retirement from T20 cricket, thus pulling the plug from an incredible career across formats after which he walks into the sunset as a World Cup winner (T20 World Cup in 2014), while also enjoying tremendous success in the shortest format of the sport playing for various franchises all around the world.
The 38-year-old right-arm fast bowler from Sri Lanka announced his retirement on his YouTube channel while thanking all the major teams that he has been part of, in his successful career which began in 2004 when he played against Australia in the one-day international match at Darwin.
Malinga was active as a player only in the T20 format, having retired from the other two formats long ago. He said in his YouTube channel message,
“Today I decided I want to give 100 percent rest to my T20 bowling shoes. I want to thank each and every one who supported me and blessed me throughout my T20 journey.”
Malinga played an overall 295 matches in T20 format wherein he took 390 wickets at an average of 19.68 with an incredibly special and and enviable economy rate of 7.07. He bagged 4-wicket hauls 10 times whereas he snaffled 5-wicket hauls five times.
Malinga played an overall 30 Test matches and 220 ODIs along with 84 T20 internationals for Sri Lanka from 2004 till his final appearance in March 2020. In 13 Test matches, Malinga took 101 wickets at 33.15 with an economy rate of 3.85 with three 5-wicket hauls. In 226 ODIs, Malinga claimed 338 wickets with a best bowling performance of 6/38, grabbing his wickets at 28.87 with an economy rate of 5.35. In 84 T20Is, Malinga grabbed 107 wickets at 20.79 with an economy rate of 7.42 with his best performance coming at 5/6.
The great Sri Lankan fast bowler enjoyed a great time playing in the Indian Premier League (IPL) tournament, wherein he played for the five-time champions Mumbai Indians in 122 matches, taking 170 wickets at 19.80 with an economy of 7.14. He has taken six 4-wicket hauls and one five-wicket haul in the IPL history.