Lasith Malinga: Smiling Assassin 2.0

There's something about Sri Lankans and their smiles. There's something so disarming about it that you are often forced to let your guard down. It's their 'Expelliarmus' spell!

The tear-drop nation has, over the years, produced some of the greatest wizards in the game of cricket. Aravinda de Silva, Sanath Jayasuriya, Mahela Jayawardene, Kumar Sangakkara, Chaminda Vaas... they would have given the Avengers a run for their money were they unleashed on a cricket ground together.

Wishful thinking aside, the list is incomplete without Muttiah Muralitharan and Lasith Malinga—the two show stealers who came, who smiled, and who conquered. These legendary bowlers might as well have dropped right out of the Marvel Cinematic Universe. For they had superhuman abilities. The former could turn a cricket ball even on a marble floor, while the latter can crush your toe into oblivion off all the six balls in an over with unerring accuracy.

Apart from their (almost freakish) bowling talent, they had another thing in common. Their disarming smile. Muralitharan, who was called the 'smiling assassin', had the same sheepish grin when he had spun one past an unsuspecting batsman disturbing his timber, and when a batsman carted him over the ropes. The grin would be back again when he came out swinging his willow. His short stint with the bat in the middle would usually leave the fielding side and the viewers in splits.

Malinga, or Mali as he is called, might have had run-ins with the authorities every now and then and might not have been at his diplomatic best in interviews, but once on the field, it was all about enjoying the game. If a well-executed plan worked, he would smile. A misfield or a boundary would bring a grimace or a look of dejection which would soon be replaced with a grin of resignation. And when he came out to bat, everyone watching would sit up in anticipation... of fun.

But these two legends were not subjects of amusement. Instead, they were adored, and greater still, respected, around the cricketing world. One never saw them sledging or giving the batsman a fiery send-off. Malinga used to be fired up, though, after taking crucial wickets. Both respected the game and the ones who played it, and got it back in generous measure.

The guard of honour that Malinga, 35, got in his last ODI in Colombo from both Sri Lanka and Bangladesh is proof of that. The veteran pacer, who retired from Tests in 2011 to focus on white-ball cricket, had a memorable outing. He was unbeaten on six as Sri Lanka scored 314/8. With the ball, he got the first breakthrough and also the last wicket in his final over of the match. He took 3/38, of which two came from unplayable yorkers.

There was a reason that most of his yorkers found its mark. He used to spend hours on the beaches of Galle practising hitting a pair of boots glued to the crease, with a tennis ball under the watchful eyes of former Lankan pacer Champaka Ramanayake. Add to it his sling action, which was difficult to read for most batsmen, and the island nation had a weapon like no other.

Sri Lanka unleashed him in Tests first—in 2004 against Australia. The exact date—'1-7-2004'—is tattooed on his body. But he found his calling in the shorter formats of the game. On rank-turners that the subcontinent offer and to come out of a shadow as big as Muralitharan, you had to be special. Malinga was special, and more. The pacer took 338 wickets in 226 ODIs at 28.87 with his deceptive and accurate bowling. Only Muralitharan (523) and Vaas (399) have taken more wickets than Malinga in ODIs among Lankan bowlers. He is the first to take two World Cup hat-tricks and the first to take three ODI hat-tricks.

His golden years were, arguably, between 2006 and 2014. In fact, between 2006 and 2013, no other bowler took more wickets than Malinga, who scalped 267 wickets, despite missing 15 months of action between March 2008 and June 2009 because of a knee injury.

Which brings us to another date and another tattoo. '28-3-2007', the day Malinga took four wickets in four balls against South Africa in a World Cup match in Guyana. The record still stands. He finished with 18 wickets in eight matches in that edition and played a stellar role in taking Sri Lanka to the finals.

Malinga featured in four editions of the World Cup and his tally of 56 wickets is only behind Glenn McGrath (71) and Muralitharan (68). His strike rate (the frequency with which he picked up wickets) of 32.4 is only second to Ajantha Mendis (27.3) in Sri Lanka’s ODI cricket history.

The highest point of his cricket career would probably be when he became the captain—albeit reluctantly—and led Sri Lanka to a famous 2014 World Cup T20 title win. He became only the second Lankan captain to lift an ICC World Cup after Arjuna Ranatunga.

Knee and ankle injuries, over the years, caused Malinga's pace to dip a bit. He was also widely trolled for developing a paunch and putting on weight. But he made it up with his clever variations. He would bowl slower deliveries, off-cutters, and bouncers with that same action, which was more parallel to the pitch rather than perpendicular. And yet, when he would bend his back, he could still bowl around 145 kmph.

His death bowling prowess made him a valuable asset in T20s. No wonder the Mumbai Indians, who signed him up in 2008, didn't let go of him since. Who can forget, after all this years, how the veteran defended nine runs in the final over to hand Mumbai Indians their fourth IPL title beating Chennai Super Kings by one run. All this after he was pummelled for 20 runs in the last over he had bowled in the match!

Though is performance dipped after the 2015 World Cup, he made a promising comeback during the Asia Cup last year, and ultimately found a place in the ODI squad at the World Cup this year. Where the match against England happened.

Malinga was always flamboyant, with his golden curls, piercings and tattoos. The sight of him steaming in—much like Muralitharan with his facial expressions just before he bowled the ball—might unnerve the batsman. But that's where the ferocity ended.

After the match against Bangladesh, as a viewer on ESPNcricinfo commented: “(sic) In all honesty Mali comes across as a guy who just wants to be respected. And if you ask him nicely he will even give you the passwords of his online bank accounts let alone how to bowl those slow Yorkers and bouncers.”

And, probably, all of that with that disarming smile intact.