With blond-tinted hair and the distinctive slingshot action, Sri Lanka’s legendary fast bowler Lasith Malinga is arguably one of the most celebrated bowlers of T20 cricket. The speedster with his slingy action and toe-crushing yorkers is a nightmare for many batters. Along with a fruitful international career, the veteran also has enjoyed mighty success in franchise-based leagues globally. The champion bowler decided to bring curtains down on his franchise cricket career in January this year ahead of the 14th edition of the Indian Premier League. It is worth mentioning that he had also earlier announced his retirement from ODIs and Test matches.
With immense experience of playing the game in different conditions, Lasith Malinga is undoubtedly a bowler that up-and-coming cricketers would look up to. The fast bowler has remained relevant in his long career and has kept on adding new variations to his arsenal to get the better of the opposition’s batters in the batsman-friendly T20 format. Much to the fans’ delight, the cricketer will be sharing details about his tactical bowling ploys on his newly-launched YouTube channel – Master The Game!
Malinga, who has often shied away from the limelight, recently made his much-anticipated debut on the micro-blogging site Twitter. Moreover, he has also created his own YouTube channel, where he plans to share insights about the game with his fans and followers. The star bowler took to his Twitter account to suggest that he plans to move in this direction post hanging his boots from the highest level.
“He always wanted to share his experience with the next generation. That’s why he decided to launch his YouTube channel, where he shares how to handle match situation, read the opposition game plan and field setting accordingly” a close friend of Malinga told Cricket Age.
Not surprisingly, just within few days, his channel has garnered worldwide attention and became an Instant hit.
“The analytical show of him is in Sinhala language , but it has English and Hindi subtitles as well, so the budding cricketers could be benefited from his expertise” his close friend added.
While it has been a long time since Malinga last played a competitive game, he still is in the Sri Lankan selectors’ scheme of things and can soon be seen playing for his country in T20Is. National Selection Committee Chairman Pramodya Wickramasinghe recently met Malinga and added that the legendary bowler is in their plans for the forthcoming T20 tours, including the T20 World Cup coming up in October.
Wickramasinghe, who took over as new selection committee head only last month, revealed that Lasith Malinga is also in their plans. He opined that one should never forget that the former Mumbai Indians team star is one of the greatest bowlers in their country, even in his present form and his records speak for that. The Sri Lankan selection committee chairman suggested that there are two back-to-back T20 World Cups that are coming up, this year and the next year, and Mlainga could still play an important role.
Malinga also reminded that he has made himself available for the T20 internationals and wants to know how the selection committee would get the services of a senior player of his calibre. The veteran seamer is confident of performing well even after a long break as he feels he has done it before.
“I have retired from both Test and ODI cricket but not from T20s. I also am keen to know how the selection committee is going to get the services of a senior player like me for the national side. In my career, I have proved on many occasions that I can come back after a long break and perform well for my country,” Malinga claimed.
One of the all time greatest fast bowler in world cricket, Malinga is the third in the list of most successful bowlers in the history of the World Cup with 56 wickets. He has also taken three ODI hat-tricks and is the only player to have achieved the milestone twice during a World Cup. He is also the highest wicket-taker in the IPL history. Malinga, who has played a staggering 122 IPL matches, has 170 wickets to his credit, the highest in the cash-rich league, with the best bowling figures of 5/13.
And, he is also a world cup winning captain! While some of his fellow cricketers (with so called shrewdest cricketing brain claims) could not win a single meaningful trophy as captains in their career, Malinga won 2014 T20 world cup for his motherland and became only second Sri Lanka captain to do so after legendary Arjuna Ranatunga.
