“You have to be a match-winner,” is the golden rule to survive in veteran pacer Lasith Malinga’s golden words for the youngsters after playing his final ODI for Sri Lanka in front of his home crowd.
On Friday, Malinga brought an end to his illustrious ODI career with a wicket off the last ball he bowled in the first ODI of the three-match series against Bangladesh - which Sri Lanka won by 91 runs. He took 3/38 and went past Anil Kumble’s tally of wickets in the 50-over format.
Malinga directed his typical yorkers to dismiss openers Tamim Iqbal (0) and Soumya Sarkar (15) to reduce Bangladesh to three for 30. Mushfiqur Rahim scored 67 and Sabbir Rahman made 60 in a brief fight.
Malinga also picked up the last wicket of the Bangladesh innings when Thisara Perera held a skier from tailender Mustafizur Rahman.
Malinga finished with 338 wickets in 226 matches, finishing as one of the finest match-winners to have played for Sri Lanka since 2004. He is Sri Lanka’s third highest wicket-taker in ODI cricket after Muttiah Muralitharan (523) and Chaminda Vaas (399).
Source: Gulf News
-Agencies
