Probably one of the all-time greatest white-ball bowlers the world of cricket has seen, Sri Lanka’s Lasith Malinga called time on his cricket career and announced his retirement from all forms on September 14, 2021.
The right-arm pacer with one of the most unique bowling actions made his international debut for Sri Lanka in 2004. However, his Test career was limited to 30 matches in which he picked 101 matches. In order to protect himself, Malinga announced retirement from Tests in 2011 and played exclusively in white-ball format.
The 38-year-old ended his cricketing career with 338 ODI wickets in 226 matches and 107 wickets in 84 T20I matches. He is the only bowler with 5 international hat-tricks which include two instances of picking four wickets in four balls once each in ODIs and T20Is.
Lasith Malinga retires from all forms of cricket
Malinga was the Sri Lankan captain when the team won the 2014 T20 World Cup in Bangladesh by beating India in the finals.
He was also effective in T20 leagues picking up his best figures of 6/7 in the Big Bash League, while he remains the highest wicket-taker in the Indian Premier League with 170 wickets, all for Mumbai Indians.
“Hanging up my #T20 shoes and #retiring from all forms of cricket! Thankful to all those who supported me in my journey, and looking forward to sharing my experience with young cricketers in the years to come,” Malinga tweeted while announcing his retirement.
As a legend of the game said goodbye, the cricket fraternity came together on Twitter to pay tribute to one of the best fast bowlers the world has ever seen and we have some of the best tweets.
Check them out here:
