10 Strange facts about Lethal Lasith Malinga

10 Strange facts about Lethal Lasith Malinga: In the present era, no one can doubt about Lasith Malinga’s prowess. His knack of picking up wickets at regular intervals made him more lethal. Malinga is not only one of the most successful bowlers in this 20-20 format of cricket, but he has also helped Sri Lanka win many matches at crucial junctures.

Though injury halted his Test career, but Malinga continued his amazing forms in T20s and 50-over formats as well. Malinga got 101 wickets from 30 Tests with 3 five-wicket hauls, while he picked up 291-wickets in 191 ODI matches with 7 five-wicket hauls at a good economy rate of around 5-runs per over. In 59 Twenty-twenty internationals, he scalped 78 wickets with 1 five-wicket haul. The statistics itself shows how brilliant Malinga is with the ball.

Here are 10 Strange facts about Lethal Lasith Malinga:

1. Nickname: Probably, he is one of the rare cricketers who has earned a nickname for his unique bowling style. The round arm bowling action of Malinga made him famous worldwide and he got the nickname “Slinga Malinga”.

2. Mentor: Champaka Ramanayake, the former Sri-Lankan pacer, was the man behind Malinga’s rise from a gully cricketer to a world class bowler. He was highly impressed with Malinga’s bowling and guided him to join Mahinda College, Galle (Sri-Lanka), the rest is history as Malinga scripted success story worldwide with his astute Yorkers and full-length deliveries.

3. Impressive Test Debut: Malinga’s first Test against Australia in 2004 was a very successful one. He dismissed both Lehman and Gilchrist in the same over in the first innings and took 4 wickets in Australia’s second innings. He claimed a total of 6-wickets in the match.

4. First Class Debut: Malinga performed miraculously at his first class debut in 2001 claiming a total of 8 wickets in the match. He was just around 18 at that time.

5. Viv Richard’s Claim: The West Indian legend was awestruck with Malinga’s magnificent bowling at the ICC Cricket World Cup 2007 held in the Caribbean Island. Sir Vivian Richards claimed that Lasith Malinga is the best thing that happened to Sri Lankan cricket after Aravinda De Silva.

6. Astonishing IPL Player: Malinga is the most successful bowler in the IPL. He took whopping 143 wickets from 98 matches that he played so far with 4 four-wicket haul and 1 five-wicket haul. His 4-over spells have helped Mumbai Indians win many important matches at this tournament since his association with the team in 2009.

7. Unique Hairstyle: After Dhoni, Malinga is the most sought after player whose hairstyle became the talk of the town. Lasith Malinga came up with his unique curly hairstyle during 2007 Cricket World Cup and instantly became popular with fans. The calm, shy and focused cricketer was declared as the sexiest man in cricket by Easy, a Barbados-based magazine.

8. Malinga with the bat: Malinga’s highest ODI score is a match-winning 56 against Australia in 2010. Sri Lanka lost 8 wickets for just 107 while chasing Australia’s total of 240 in Melbourne. But, Malinga stunned everyone with his batting skills this time as he scored a crafty 56 and added 132 runs for the 9th wicket with Angelo Mathews. Sri Lanka stunningly won the match by 1 wicket in the end.

9. Hat-tricks: Malinga is the only bowler to accomplished two world cup hat tricks. He got his maiden hat-trick against South Africa during 2007 cricket world cup held in Caribbean Island. He again claimed a hat-trick at a match against Kenya in cricket world cup 2011 held in the Indian subcontinent.

10. A successful Captain: Lasith Malinga was entrusted with the responsibility to lead Sri Lanka in ICC World T20 2014 held in Bangladesh. He successfully led Sri Lanka to win the title beating India in the final by 4 runs at Dhaka.