Lasith Malinga finished as the leading wicket-taker in the Asia Cup 2014. His 11 strikes included two five-wicket hauls against Pakistan. Malinga helped Sri Lanka win the Asia Cup for a fifth time. Shrikant Shankar believes that the slinger is picking up his form ahead of two important tournaments — ICC World T20 2014 and IPL 7.
When Mumbai Indians had chosen their five players for the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2014 Retention, there was a big surprise. Mitchell Johnson was left out in favour of Lasith Malinga. The duo, especially Johnson had helped Mumbai clinch the IPL 2013 crown and then the Champions League T20 2013 trophy as well. Malinga looked a little rusty in the IPL, but came good in the final. He also missed the CLT20 victory.
The others retained by Mumbai were captain Rohit Sharma, Harbhajan Singh, Kieron Pollard and Ambati Rayudu. One could argue that Rayudu could have been let go in Johnson’s favour if they were keen on keeping Malinga. But that did not happen. People thought that their strategy would be to get Johnson in the IPL 2014 Auction through their ‘Right to Match’ offer. But Mumbai did not use that. Kings XI Punjab got Australia’s Johnson for a good sum.
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Loyalty was considered a factor for Mumbai as Sri Lanka’s Malinga was with them from the very beginning. He is the leading wicket-taker in IPL history having played one season less through injury. But there were question marks over his recent fitness and his overall form. People were definitely thinking whether Mumbai had made the right choice by not retaining Johnson as he has been is great form over the last few months.
Then came the Asia Cup 2014. Malinga starred for Sri Lanka in the first match against Pakistan. He helped Sri Lanka win the tie as Pakistan seemed destined for a win. The slinger ended up with five wickets as the Lankans won by a close margin of 12 runs. Though Malinga accepted that it was far from his best performance, at the end of the day, it was match snatched from Pakistan by Malinga. That set them on their way. They then beat India, Afghanistan and Bangladesh en route to the final. The title clash was also against Pakistan. Here his initial burst rocked Pakistan and they were always trying to build an innings.
Eventually, Malinga picked up all the five wickets that fell in Pakistan’s innings — a record. Then the batsmen chased down a relatively competitive total of 261 in 46.2 overs. Sri Lanka had won the Asia Cup for the fifth time. Malinga was the Man of the Match. He ended up as the leading wicket-taker with 11 wickets. His confidence will be on an all-time high as the ICC World T20 2014 approaches. Sri Lanka have twice fallen at the final hurdle — once in 2009 and then in 2012 on home soil.
But as a team they are in great form and since the tournament is being held in Bangladesh, Sri Lanka would be backing themselves to go the full distance this time around. Malinga’s form will be a key factor and if he can produce the some wondrous spells, then the opposition batsmen will have their work cut out. It is interesting to note that Malinga has come back to form right before two important T20 tournaments.
The World T20 will be followed by IPL 7. Suddenly, Mumbai’s decision does not look all that bad!
(Shrikant Shankar is a writer/reporter at CricketCountry.com. Previously he has done audio commentary for various matches involving India, Indian Premier League and Champions League Twenty20 for ESPNSTAR.com. You can follow him on Twitter @Shrikant_23)
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