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Thank you Lasith Malinga for all the great memories. The Sri Lankan legend has retired from T20Is to hang up his boots from all forms of cricket. Earlier in Jan, he had retired from T20 franchise cricket. He had retired from ODIs in 2019, and from Tests in 2011. Malinga is the only bowler to take 100 wickets across all three formats of the game at the international level. 

Cricwizz takes a look at the unique stats on Lasith Malinga’s T20 career and his memorable performances.

# He is the fourth-highest wicket-taker in T20 cricket with 390 wickets. The list is led by Dwayne Bravo (540 wickets), Imran Tahir (420 wickets), and Sunil Narine (412 wickets). 

# He is second on the list of most five-wicket hauls in a T20 innings with five such performances. David Wiese is first on the list with 6 five-wicket hauls.

# Malinga holds the record of most four-wicket hauls in T20 cricket with 15. Imran Tahir is first with 13 such scalps.

# He holds the joint record of taking the most T20 wickets against a particular opponent. Malinga has taken 37 wickets against CSK, sharing the record with Andrew Ellis.

# He is the second-highest wicket-taker in World T20 with 38 wickets, behind topper Shahid Afridi’s tally of 39 wickets.

# Malinga has taken 195 wickets for Mumbai Indians – a record for any particular T20 team. Malinga’s last ball for Mumbai helped the team earned a wicket on the last ball, and a title in 2019. He dismissed Shardul Thakur in the 2019 IPL final on the last ball to win the title by a run. 

# Malinga and Rashid Khan are the only two bowlers to take four wickets in 4 balls in T20Is. Malinga achieved the feat against New Zealand at Pallekele in 2019.

# 6/7 Malinga’s best-ever T20 show continues to be the best ever in Big Bash League. Malinga took 6/7 against Perth Scorchers while playing for Melbourne Stars.

Top performances by Malinga in T20 cricket

Four for four against New Zealand in 2019

Playing for pride to salvage a win in the third T20I, Malinga led from the front, taking 4 wickets in 4 balls. He first bowled Colin Munro bowled, and then dismissed Hamish Rutherford LBW, Colin de Grandhomme bowled, and Ross Taylor LBW to slump NZ from 15/0 to 15/4. Malinga ended up with 5/6 as Sri Lanka won the match by 37 runs, but lost the series 2-1.

2014 World T20 final

Before this final, Sri Lanka has lost four ICC title finals. India looked to set up a big total but they could not accelerate in the death overs as Malinga bowled unplayable yorkers to strangulate India’s scoring chances. Malinga gave only 7 runs from the bat in his last two overs in the death as Yuvraj Singh and then MS Dhoni failed to get the big hits. India’s low score of 130 was easily overhauled by the Sri Lankan legends of Mahela Jayawardene and Kumar Sangakkara.

Malinga's 6/7 against Perth Scorchers in 2012 Big Bash League

Playing for Melbourne Stars in the 2012 Big Bash League, Malinga struck terror in Scorchers' camp with his yorkers, taking 6/7 to bowl the opposition out for just 69. His victims include Marcus Stoinis, Marcus North, and Nathan Coulter-Nile. It is the best bowling figure ever in Big Bash League history.

Cover image courtesy: Sportscafe