Lasith Malinga has been the 'go to' man for the captain in almost all the teams he featured. The advent of franchise T20 Cricket established Lasith Malinga as the hottest commodity in the cricketing arena.
Malinga featured in several T20 leagues around the world and needless to say, he delivered what was expected from him more often than not. He was associated with Mumbai Indians right from the first season till the last one. Although, he withdrew from the 2020 season owing to personal reasons.
However, IPL is not the only league in which he made his presence felt. His career best figures in T20 leagues came for Melbourne Stars in the BBL. His best performances in IPL deserves a separate list altogether.
Here are the best performances by Lasith Malinga in T20 leagues barring IPL-
BBL- 6/7 against Perth Scorchers
Against the strong batting line-up of Perth Scorchers, Malinga went berserk. He knocked over Scorchers' batsmen for fun. Malinga representing Melbourne Stars in the game returned with astounding figures of 6-7. This spell will remain as one of the best spells in T20 cricket.
CLT20- 5/32 against CSK
Lasith Malinga was in no mood to let the Chennai Super Kings fly towards a big total. His five-wicket haul ensured that Mumbai Indians climb over Chennai in this important Champions League fixture.
CLT20- 2/23 against RCB
Malinga's role in CLT20 was major for Mumbai Indians. In this encounter, Mumbai could muster only 139 batting first. But Malinga's death bowling ensured that RCB fell short by 31 runs. This surely was a match winning performance by him.
CPL- 2/18 against TKR
This spell might not appear very heroic from the figures but the overall impact on the game of this spell was immense. Malinga played a major role in restricting TKR to a low total.
Special Mention
T10 league- 1/18 against Deccan Gladiators
Lasith Malinga bowled the match winning over in T10 Final in 2019. The figures do not tell the real story. In Malinga's final over for Maratha Arabians, his pin point death bowling led to 3 run outs. His Yorkers restricted the opposition from reaching a big total.
All in all, one can safely say that the cricketing world is going to miss 'Slinga' Malinga on the field. However, he might remain active in the coaching arena for a long time as his area of expertise is death bowling which is a difficult art to learn.
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