I am again restless with my newest passion as ‘songwriter’, says Lasith Malinga

When Lasith Malinga was on song, his toe-crushing yorkers terrifying opposition batters in white-ball cricket for a decade-and-a-half, Sri Lanka did not have to worry much. Three years after retirement, Malinga is on ‘song’ again, but on a different pitch. The former speedster has penned some songs and he looks to rock with his ‘deliveries’ this time too.

“Mastering the Yorker has been a great journey of following my passion. Now, I am again restless with my newest passion. What do you think about the ‘Songwriter Lasith Malinga’?” Malinga wrote a few days back on a professional networking site.

‘Life’, an album featuring 14 songs, is one creation of Malinga, the only other player alongside Arjuna Ranatunga to lead Sri Lanka to World Cup glory (T20 World Cup title in 2014). That apart, he has also written two other songs, Yakka Gennala (To the giants looking from the outside) and Palamuwarata (For the first time).

The songs though will not just be confined in the Sinhalese industry. Dura Dakke Na (Far away), one of the songs of ‘Life’, will be having its Hindi version soon with voice likely to be lent by a Sri Lankan artist.

“I’ve already started working on the Hindi version. One of the most talented Sri Lankan singers has decided to sing that.

“Once that is released, I’m sure all the fans in Sri Lanka and India would love it,” Malinga told The Telegraph.

The idea to write songs struck him quite recently while working on his book (name yet to be finalised) about his experiences in fast bowling. “I didn’t have an idea to be a songwriter,” Malinga stated.

“I was writing a book about my experiences and techniques a fast bowler should learn about. I was working on the book and everything that came to mind. It then clicked to me that those are the things people would generally experience, and some experiences are related to life.

“So, I just gave it a shot... to write these as songs.”

His songs will mostly be about ordinary people and their life experiences. “Whenever I find some free time, I will be writing whatever comes to my mind. They will be based on life experiences.

“With that, people will find it lovely when those stories coming out of my songs are closer to their lives,” Malinga said.

Cricket or songwriting, which one’s tougher? “Cricket is harder, no debate on it,” Malinga, currently the fast bowling coach of Mumbai Indians, replied.

“With the opposition changing, you need to adapt technically, tactically and read and understand situations. A person who has played cricket would know how hard the game is and how hard it is to remain at the top for a long time.”

Source: The Telegraph
--Agencies