The Mumbai Indians’ Legacy Of Lasith Malinga- #SportySaturday
It is said that behind every successful man is a woman. Well, I would say that behind every successful cricket team is an elite bowler. You could go back to the 70’s and the 80’s and the early 90’s and you will see that West Indies completely dominated world cricket. Bowlers like Courtney Walsh, Curtly Ambrose, Michael Holding, Malcolm Marshall, and Andy Roberts were a batsman’s nightmare. These are not just legends of the game, they totally revolutionized the art of fast bowling and West Indies have since failed to unearth such talented quickies.
This #SportySaturday, let us see what Malinga did for Mumbai Indians. These were not just your ordinary bowlers. They were a unique set of specimen that were over six feet tall and consistently clocked over 140 clicks per hour.
For Mumbai Indians, Lasith Malinga has been that kind of a bowler. Although he is not one of the tallest guys around, he was gifted with raw pace and an uncanny action, a round-arm action that can flummox the best batsmen on his day.
To begin with his journey, he was snapped up by Mumbai Indians in the inaugural edition, but Malinga had to withdraw his name from the squad.
Although Mumbai Indians had bowlers like Shaun Pollock, Ashish Nehra, Dilhara Fernando, and Andre Nel in their ranks, they missed a spearhead, someone who could decide games on his own.
Pollock is hands down one of the best bowlers ever, but he was 34 back then and had to captain a Mumbai Indians team that lacked experienced campaigners (with the obvious exceptions of Harbhajan Singh, Sanath Jayasuriya, and Ashish Nehra) and had to cope with the absence of Sachin Tendulkar for a major part of the tournament.
Malinga made his debut for Mumbai Indians in the 2009 season. Zaheer Khan was roped in the same season, and coupled with the acquisition of JP Duminy, it seemed as if Mumbai Indians had formed a title-challenging squad. However, they did not make it to the semi-finals for the second successive season.
Come 2010, and Mumbai Indians were in rampant form. Kieron Pollard was bought after making a lot of waves in franchise cricket across the world. Sachin Tendulkar was in the form of his life as he won the Orange Cap, and the bowling department was gelling. Sachin’s troops made it to their first ever semi-finals, and their first ever finals that season. Malinga finished with 15 wickets that season.
2011 was probably Malinga’s best year with Mumbai Indians, atleast on a personal level. Mumbai made it to the playoffs yet again, which granted them an automatic qualification to the now defunct Champions League T20. Malinga won the Purple Cap that season, picking up a ridiculous 28 wickets in just 16 games, which only falls short of Dwayne Bravo’s figure of 32 wickets in the 2013 IPL for the most wickets in an IPL season.
Not only that, he helped Mumbai Indians win their first ever Champions League T20. Very, very few fans would remember Malinga’s heroics against Chennai Super Kings, with the bat though. He scored a 18-ball 37 blitzkrieg to pull Mumbai out from the jaws of defeat. Mumbai Indians were treading heavy water when Malinga came in to bat. At 106-7 after 15.2 overs, Mumbai had a mountain to climb with no recognized batsman at the pitch. Needing 53 runs from 28 balls, Slinga decided to take matters in his own hands and pulled the rabbit out of the bat by shell-shocking the Super Kings’ bowling department. He hit three sixes in what will always go down as one of the best T20 innings by a bowler.
His inswinging yorkers and dipping slow balls have often got a little too much to handle for the batsmen. It would be safe to assume that Jasprit Bumrah is the bowler he is today due to the guidance given to him by the Sri Lankan, without taking away the credit from Bumrah himself because he is where he is due to the hard work and steely determination.
A player who plays regularly improves and develops his/her game more likely than not, but when Jasprit made his debut in the 2013 season, he failed to make an immediate impact and impress.
If Bumrah and Malinga have something in common, its their mastery over the art of bowling yorker after yorker with an immaculate accuracy. Bumrah has inherited all the knowledge and experience from Malinga and that has boded well for the Indian pacer.
Malinga’s 2017 IPL was a bittersweet moment, as he did win the IPL trophy but had a very poor campaign individually, which saw him being released ahead of IPL 2018. However, Mumbai rewarded his loyalty by appointing him as the bowling mentor.
2019 saw his return to the squad. Mumbai bought him for INR 2 Crores, and he had a decent IPL although he was the most expensive bowler for Mumbai over the entire course of the tournament.
There is a popular saying, “Cometh the hour. Cometh the man.” This saying implies to Malinga perfectly. Last year’s IPL final between Mumbai Indians and Chennai Super Kings was the first IPL final between the arch-rivals, and the fourth overall. Malinga had conceded over 40 odd runs in his first 3 overs, defending an unchallenging yet respectable 150 runs. Pundits and commentators claimed that it will be a walk in the park for the Chennai batting line-up.
The responsibility of bowling the final over fell on Malinga’s shoulders. With 9 runs required and with Shane Watson and Ravindra Jadeja on the crease, many would have counted Malinga off to defend 9 runs, more so given how horrible a day he was having. But that’s when his expertise helped the most. The first three balls were right in the blockhole, and he bowled to Shane Watson from round the wicket. He used the ball he can bowl the best to contain the batsmen and create pressure. The fourth ball was another yorker, which Watson sliced to the point region, and Watson was run out at the keeper’s end while trying to complete the second run. Chennai required 4 off 2, and Shardul Thakur was the next player to walk in. Facing his first delivery, he mishit a full toss between fine leg and deep square leg, and fetched 2 runs, reducing the equation to 2 runs of the final delivery.
Malinga changed the bowling side. He returned to over the wicket, and bowled a slow-ball yorker that trapped Thakur in front. It was plumb, Thakur was adjudged out by the umpire, and Malinga stunned Chennai supporters and a few Mumbai Indians’ supporters too, except me (and all those who didn’t give up on him).
Players gave him a victory lap, much similar to the one Sachin received when India won the 2011 Cricket World Cup. He has already registered legendary status long back, but that one over proved that Malinga is the best damned T20 bowler that ever existed.
Having represented Mumbai Indians in 122 IPL games, he is the highest wicket-taker in the history of the IPL, with 170 scalps to his name. Bumrah is already the heir to Malinga’s throne, and their chemistry is much similar to the one between Sachin Tendulkar and Virat Kohli, the relationship of a master and a protégé.
It will be sad to see him go, since he is going to turn 37 this year in August, and no one knows just how much gas is left in his tank. At this point, we are not even sure we will see him in action next season if he considers retiring from all forms of cricket. Hence this is a small tribute to the man who has done so much for Mumbai Indians and he is one of the biggest protagonists in leading Mumbai to where they currently are.
There are clear signs of decline, and his powers are waning. But if I, as a Mumbai Indians’ fan, am lucky to see him play in the next IPL, I hope he keeps smiling in the most charming of ways. I hope he never loses that goddamn smile.
This is my tribute to Lasith, and one article is not enough to express how much he means to me - not just as a Mumbai Indians’ fan, but as a cricket fan overall. Thank you, Lasith ‘Slinga’ Malinga, for everything!
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