Team India speedster Jasprit Bumrah had hailed his Mumbai Indians‘ (MI) teammate Lasith Malinga, who played his last ODI on Friday (July 26). Bumrah had lavished praise on Malinga for being generous during former’s initial years.
Malinga made his international debut in 2004, he had represented the Lankans in 226 ODIs to snare 338 wickets at an average of 28.9. He had 11 four-wicket hauls and eight five-wicket hauls to his name.
Interestingly, Bumrah had risen to the occasion in the Indian Premier League (IPL) while representing four-time champions, Indians under the dynamic leadership of Rohit Sharma. Malinga had played a pivotal role in helping Bumrah to learn the niceties of the game. He further saw Malinga helping him in bowling searing yorkers.
The 25-year-old Ahmedabad-born had made an international debut in 2016. So far, he had featured in 58 ODIs, 42 T20Is and 10 Tests. The bowling with an unorthodox action has been remarkable which his sheer consistency with his bowling average around 22 across formats.
Subsequently, it reflects how he has proved his critics wrong who believed Bumrah won’t survive long particularly in the traditional format.
Jasprit Bumrah hails his mentor Malinga:
Meanwhile, Bumrah maintained that he will always admire Malinga for his unconditional support. While highly speaking of his mentor, Bumrah expressed gratitude to Malinga for given eve.
“Classic Mali spell
Thank you for everything you’ve done for cricket. Always admired you and will always continue to do so
,” Bumrah wrote on his Twitter handle.
Well, as Malinga has played a last One-day fixture at Colombo against Bangladesh, he had produced some searing yorkers which saw him castling Tamim Iqbal on the penultimate delivery of the Tigers’ innings.
Earlier, batting first Sri Lanka posted 314 runs thanks to Kusal Perera’s fine hundred. He scored 111 of 99 deliveries with the help of 17 fours and a six. Besides Kusal Mendis and Angelo Mathews also stepped in to help their side to eye 300-run mark.
The Islanders skipper Dimuth Karunaratne had faced 37 balls for his 36 runs.
Meanwhile, in response, Bangladesh were all out at 223 in 41.4 overs.
Malinga led from the front by claiming three wickets, so as his new-ball partner Nuwan Pradeep. Dhananjaya de Silva bagged two wickets whereas, Lahiru Kumara managed to bag a solitary wicket of Mahmudullah Riyad.
Mushfiqur Rahim and Sabbir Rahman’s fifties were not enough as visitors kept losing wickets at regular intervals.
Here’s the heartfelt tweet from Jasprit Bumrah for Lasith Malinga:
Classic Mali spell ? Thank you for everything you've done for cricket. Always admired you and will always continue to do so ?.
— Jasprit Bumrah (@Jaspritbumrah93) July 26, 2019