Is Fiji’s Viliame Manakiwai the new Lasith Malinga?

Is Fiji's Viliame Manakiwai the new Lasith Malinga?

The International Cricket Council (ICC) on Monday tweeted about player named Viliame Manakiwai from Fiji, which left the social media wondering whether this cricketer should be considered as the new Lasith Malinga of the cricketing world. Manakiwai, whose bowling action more or less was similar to the Sri Lankan fast-bowling star, and he also seemed to have a slinging action. Although he was not as complete as Malinga, the equivalence to the later’s potential can make him the next slinger in world cricket. Malinga is undoubtedly famous for his slinging action that makes the only recognised slinger in the game of cricket so far. The ICC had tweeted a video of Viliame’s match for Fiji where he bowled a batsman with a perfect yorker delivery and the action seemed to be a slinging action.

Since Malinga had acquired the slinging action after playing a lot of soft-ball cricket, he had to undergo proper guidance about his arm strength as it had to go sideways and was tilted to generate the bounce. Sri Lanka’s former fast-bowler Chaminda Vaas had  a solution for that as well: swimming. “Because of his unusual technique, he [Mallinga] would exert a lot of strain on his side muscles. He had to do daily train to strengthen his hips, thighs, back shoulder and calf muscles,” Chaminda said.