Lasith Malinga is a nightmare T20 bowler to face. His low, horizontal, shotgun-like action is illusory, while the lack of elevation in his trajectory makes him difficult to score off, let alone smash to the boundary.
He consistently sends down perfectly-pitched yorkers at around 145km/h then varies it up with one of the best slower balls in the business.
Above all, Malinga takes wickets. Lots of them.
In fact, the Sri Lankan has taken so many that he is on the verge of creating T20 history.
When the Melbourne Stars host the Hobart Hurricanes at the MCG tonight, Malinga has an opportunity to become the all-time leading T20 wicket-taker.
He is currently equal with Perth Scorchers paceman Alfonso Thomas on 232 wickets. Remarkably, Malinga has played 26 less matches and bowled 48 fewer overs than the South African, proving just how efficient and dangerous he has been over the past decade.
One more scalp tonight, though, and he is the all-time outright leader.
After missing the opening BBL|03 match due to international commitments, the right-arm fast man has slotted back into the Stars’ dangerous bowling line-up with aplomb, taking five wickets from five games. While he has not torn this summer to shreds like he did in BBL|02 – he finished with 13 wickets at an average of 10.69 – he has worked superbly with fellow pace bowlers in Jackson Bird, James Faulkner and John Hastings.
It has been a phenomenal T20 career to date for the 30-year-old, who has rightly developed a reputation as one of the world’s best short-form fast bowlers.
It is a reputation that has seen him represent many T20 sides around the globe. Besides Sri Lanka and the Stars, he has played for Guyana Amazon Warriors, Kent, Mumbai Indians, Nondescripts Cricket Club, Ruhuna, Ruhuna Reds and Ruhuna Royals.
Since 2010, Malinga has taken at least 30 wickets in every calendar year, peaking at 63 in 2012.
He has taken 44 per cent of his wickets during his five-year stint with the Mumbai Indians in the Indian Premier League. He is the only bowler to have taken over 100 wickets in the competition. (Unsurprisingly, the Indians have retained him for IPL 2014).
Keeping the amazing stats rolling, Malinga has taken four five-wicket T20 hauls. No other bowler comes close to that record.
One of those hauls was that memorable spell of 6-7 against the Scorchers in BBL|02 at the WACA. Perth had no answer to Malinga’s outstanding deception exhibition. He pulled out the full bag of tricks, taking wickets with slower balls, out-swingers and yorkers. Statistically, it is the best bowling performance ever in the BBL and the third-best overall in T20 history.
However there is another aspect to Malinga’s bowling that sets him apart from the majority of T20 bowlers.
As well as being one of the world’s best wicket-takers, he is also one of the best run-restrictors.
For a man who bowls at such fierce pace using a wild, unpredictable action, Malinga has an outstanding average economy rate of 6.61.
He has also bowled 10 maidens, the fourth-most of all time.
While most T20 bowlers accumulate dot balls in order to take wickets, Malinga does the opposite. His wickets create dot balls.
The man from Galle has a unique talent in that he has already half-dismissed a batsman before they have arrived in the middle.
Opposition batsmen sit in their dressing room and watch Malinga from afar intimidate their teammates through pace and deception. So when he takes a wicket and a new batsman strides to the crease, they are already in a survival, defensive mode when they should be looking to score.
Advantage Malinga.
Hopefully, for the Stars and Malinga’s sake, he can capture that record-breaking wicket tonight to further solidify him as one of the great T20 bowlers.
