Published 23:06 IST, September 6th 2019
Lasith Malinga takes four wickets in four balls, derails Kiwi chase
Lasith Malinga picked up four wickets in four deliveries to derail New Zealand's run chase of 126. Malinga also registered his second five-wicket haul in T20Is.
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Lasith Malinga has been one of the biggest finds of Sri Lanka and is one of the best fast bowlers in this world. Lasith Malinga has been a star cricketer as well as a match-winner for Sri Lanka in the last 15 years. He has always given a tough time to the batsman ever since he has made his mark in international cricket back in 2004. Tests, One Day Internationals or T20Is, Lasith Malinga has been effective in all formats of the game. The veteran pacer had announced his retirement from ODI cricket last month after playing 226 matches with 338 scalps. Malinga had bid adieu to Test cricket back in 2010 where he had only played 30 matches in his short career. Lasith Malinga is now active in T20I. It remains to be seen whether he can take Sri Lanka to yet another glory in next year's ICC World T20 in Australia. However, Lasith Malinga has taken a double hat-trick in the ongoing T20I series against New Zealand.
Lasith Malinga takes 4 in 4
Lasith Malinga bowled a magical first over in the 3rd T20I at Pallekele which was a four-wicket maiden. Chasing a small target of 126, New Zealand were off to a flier when they took 12 runs off the first over bowled by Akila Dananjaya. Nonetheless, the next over bowled by Lasith Malinga changed it completely. After bowling two consecutive dot balls, he bowled a 140 kmph delivery which disturbed Colin Munro's timber, on the next delivery, Malinga had Hamish Rutherford trapped in front of the wicket. Lasith Malinga then completed his hat-trick when he castled Colin de Grandhomme with an inswinging delivery. On the very next delivery, the Lankan speedster had Ross Taylor leg before wicket. But, it was not over yet as Lasith Malinga came back in the next over to dismiss wicket-keeper batsman Tim Seifert to register a fifer. Lasith Malinga finished with figures of 5/6 in his four overs at an economy rate of 1.50 which also included a maiden. His lethal spell dismantled New Zealand's run chase as they were bundled out for 88 in 16 overs as Sri Lanka registered a 37-run win.
Lasith Malinga's record-shattering spell
Lasith Malinga's four wickets off four balls ended up breaking a lot of records. He became the first bowler to take 100 wickets in T20Is surpassing Shahid Afridi who has 98 wickets in the shortest format of the game. Malinga also became the first bowler to take two hat-tricks in T20I cricket. His first T20I hat-trick had come against Bangladesh in 2017. By the virtue of this spell, the quickie now has five hat-tricks in limited-overs cricket. At the same time, Lasith Malinga also surpassed Wasim Akram's record of most hat-tricks. Malinga has three hat-tricks in ODI's and two in T20Is while Akram has two Test hat-tricks and two in One Day Internationals.
21:54 IST, September 6th 2019