Lasith Malinga Takes 10 Wickets Across 2 Countries Within 24 Hours

Lasith Malinga, playing an IPL 2019 match and a domestic 50-over match in Sri Lanka within 12 hours of each other, has taken a total of 10 wickets in the two matches. The 35-year-old pacer helped Mumbai Indians win against Chennai Super Kings on Wednesday night in Mumbai, recording figures of 3/34. That match ended close to midnight, but Malinga took an early morning flight to Kandy on Thursday to take part in Sri Lanka's domestic List A tournament. Not only that, Malinga also recorded career-best List A figures of 7/49 for Galle on Thursday morning.

At a time when workload management of players are being keenly monitored ahead of the World Cup, Malinga's exploits paint a rare picture. 

In Wednesday's IPL match between Mumbai Indians and Chennai Super Kings, Malinga accounted for the prized wickets of Kedar Jadhav, Shane Watson and Dwayne Bravo, as the Mumbai franchise subjected the defending champions to their first defeat of the season.

On Thursday, Galle, captained by Malinga, beat Kandy by 156 runs. The match started at 9.45 am, less than 10 hours after Malinga had doffed the blue jersey of Mumbai Indians. His opening spell of four overs, after which his figures read 4/13, left Kandy devastated early on in their chase. He returned to the attack later to finish with match figures of 9.5-0-49-7.

Sri Lanka Cricket had allowed Malinga, their ODI skipper, to take part in the IPL for the entire month of April. But the ace fast bowler decided to play the provincial one-day tournament in order to have a closer look at some of the World Cup hopefuls.

Mumbai Indians tweeted a photo of Malinga from Thursday morning, where he is seen wearing the Galle jersey but is still sporting the Mumbai Indians hat.

(With IANS inputs)
 

Topics mentioned in this article

Mumbai Indians Lasith Malinga IPL 2019 Cricket