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Malinga birthday special: Top performances in the MI Blue & Gold

By Mumbai Indians

“He has given it. Lasith Malinga, the hero! Mumbai Indians have done it again. Four-time champions of the IPL!”

Malinga bowled the last ball of the 2019 IPL and won the championship for his team. For a player who has been a part of the MI setup for more than a decade, he continues to redefine his consistency levels.

Malinga has been the leading wicket-taker in the Indian Premier League with 170 wickets since he made his debut in the 2009 season. He has also been a part of MI’s all IPL winning campaigns.

As Malinga celebrates his 37th birthday today, we turn back the clock and revisit some of his best performances in the MI blue and gold.

5/13 vs Delhi Capitals, 2011

Mumbai Indians began their 2011 season campaign in style as Malinga blew away the Delhi Daredevils side with his ferocious bowling. He bowled David Warner with a fierce yorker before uprooting debutant Unmukt Chand’s middle stump. He followed it up with a maiden over to Virender Sehwag.

As soon as he was reintroduced, Malinga struck twice again in an over as Venugopal Rao and Morne Morkel were bowled in the space of three balls. He completed the five-wicket haul on his penultimate ball as Delhi were bundled out for a total of 95 runs in their first game of the season.

4/16 vs Deccan Chargers, 2012

With Deccan Chargers losing two quick wickets after a decent start, Malinga continued to apply the brakes into their innings. He got skipper Cameron White for a duck in his second over to reduce them to 44/3.

With the visitors struggling at 87/7, Malinga got the better of Amit Mishra in his penultimate over. He then wiped the tail off consecutive balls without troubling the scorers to mark the end of their innings. The pacer ended up with figures of 4/16 as MI had no trouble chasing the total.

4/22 vs Kings XI Punjab, 2010

With Shaun Marsh going berserk in the powerplay overs, Malinga who came on to bowl the fifth over, diffused the momentum by getting the better of Manvinder Bisla. By the time Malinga came for his final spell, Punjab was cruising at 124/4.

The right-arm pacer responded with back-to-back wickets of Irfan Pathan and Marsh which also turned the game in MI’s favour. He got another scalp in the form of Karan Goel in his final over to finish with 4/22.

4/23 vs Kolkata Knight Riders, 2014

Six years ago when the 2014 IPL season kicked off in UAE, Malinga again had the opposition gasping for breath. He struck in his fourth ball with a yorker that startled KKR’s skipper Gautam Gambhir.

As the partnership between Jacques Kallis and Manish Pandey took off, it was his yorker later in the 17th over that helped Mumbai Indians get the much-needed breakthrough. In his last over, Malinga got the wickets of both Kallis and Shakib Al Hasan to restrict the run flow and in the process, picked yet another four-wicket haul.

4/23 vs Sunrisers Hyderabad, 2015

Chasing 158, Sunrisers Hyderabad got off to a spectacular start. Malinga then put an end to the opening partnership as Warner found the third man while trying to uppercut a shorter one from the pacer. Coming back for his final spell, Malinga conceded 10 runs in his penultimate over as the momentum switched towards SRH.

However, Slinga, as he’s popularly known, had other plans. He feasted on the SRH lower order picking three wickets in his penultimate over. Adding to that, it was also a maiden as SRH collapsed from 127/5 to 128/8 in split seconds. This victory was also the beginning of MI’s revival in the 2015 season after losing five out of their first six games.

Bonus:

4/31 vs Royal Challengers Bangalore, 2019

In a loud and buzzing Wankhede stadium, RCB had lost both their openers with just 49 runs on the board. That’s when AB de Villiers and Moeen Ali revived their team after a slow start. Malinga had gone wicketless in his first spell.

However, the veteran came back to strike on his first ball of the final spell as he tricked Moeen with a slower one. He then outfoxed Stoinis in the same over with another slow ball to get two quick wickets. In the final over, he also scalped Akshdeep Nath and Pawan Negi as RCB managed just 15 from his last two overs apart from losing four wickets.