Veteran Sri Lankan fast bowler Lasith Malinga had to leave the Mumbai Indians (MI) squad midway during the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2019 to be eligible for selections for the World Cup. Not only did he prove his worth, but did so while making headlines for his excellent performance.
After taking three wickets for MI on April 3 night against Chennai Super Kings (CSK), he boarded a flight to Sri Lanka at 1:30 AM (April 4). The flight landed in Sri Lanka at 4:30 AM in the morning. And somehow Malinga was ready at the ground in Kandy for the 50-over game.
The 35-year-old got the bare minimum amount of rest, but that did not affect his performance. With Galle winning the toss and electing to bat first, he did get some respite but as his side stepped into the field to defend a total of 256, Malinga was handed the new ball. He ran through the Kandy batting line-up registering his career-best List A figures taking 7 wickets for 49 runs in 9.5 overs. The ‘Slinga’ wrecked their batting lineup taking wickets of international cricketers and helping his team bundle them out for 99 and winning the match by 156 runs.
If we combine his bowling statistics in 12-15 hours span, then he took 10 wickets for 83. With that superhuman performance Malinga has proved that there are no doubts about his fitness.
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