Indian Premier League Auction 2021 – It is time for yet another iteration of the IPL.
The IPL held just last September provided joy to many amidst the pandemic, provided several life lessons, and had its share of Super Overs. Now, in the final season before the overhaul and big auction (may expand to 9 or 10 teams in 2022), a short auction was held last week.
The auction had its moments—Chris Morris, the most expensive player EVER, RCB splurging on lower order allrounders, and Sunrisers just present for the participation points (only bought 3 players).
Here is our review of Indian Premier League Auction 2021: The winners, the losers, early predictions, and expected starting XIs.
Here is a quick review of all the international players sold by country.
Afghanistan (Afg): Mujeeb Ur Rahman
Australia (Aus): Steven Smith, Ben Cutting, Glenn Maxwell, Dan Christan, Riley Meredith, Nathan Coulter Nile, Jhye Richardson, Moises Henriques
Bangladesh (Ban): Shakib Al Hasan, Mustafizur Rahman
England (Eng): Moeen Ali, Tom Curran, Sam Billings, Dawid Malan, Liam Livingstone
New Zealand (NZ): Kyle Jamieson, Adam Milne, Jimmy Neesham
South Africa (SA): Chris Morris, Marco Jansen
West Indies (WI): Fabian Allen
Australia were the big gainers with 8 picks (even though the likes of Aaron Finch and Marcus Labuschagne did not find a team), while Sri Lanka had 0 picks. It seems that the era of West Indies T20 freelance monopoly is coming to an end. England is snatching this tag given their marvelous limited overs depth.
Indian Premier League Auction 2021: Auction Highlights, Starting XI, and Early Predictions
*Note: The prices are in Indian Rupees as in the auction (Conversion: $1 U.S. dollar = 73 Rupees)
*Teams highlighted in their respective jersey colors
Chennai Super Kings (CSK)
Auction Highlights
Indian Internationals: Cheteshwar Pujara (50 lac)
Indian Uncapped: Krishnappa Gowtham (9.25 crore), Harishankar Reddy (20 lac), Bhagath Verma (20 lac), C Hari Nishanth (20 lac)
Foreign Recruits: Moeen Ali – Eng (7 crore)
Verdict: Pujara finally gets an IPL deal while Gowtham & Moeen Ali can add the much needed zeal in the CSK lineup. Balanced bowling line up, local Chennai lads in the squad who lifted the Syed Mustaq Ali Trophy, and experience in the batting. Final round for Dhoni, Bravo, Uthappa, and Tahir?
Early Prediction: Barely miss the top 4 due to net run rate (The irony)
Squad:Dwayne Bravo, Lungi Ngidi, Mitchell Santner, R Sai Kishore, Cheteshwar Pujara, Narayan Jagadeesan, Karn Sharma, KM Asif, C Hari Nishanth, Harisankar Reddy, K Bhagath Varma
Delhi Capitals (DC)
Auction Highlights
Indian Internationals: Umesh Yadav (1 crore)
Indian Uncapped: Ripal Patel (20 lac), Vishnu Vinod (20 lac), Lukman Meriwala (20 lac), M Siddharth (20 lac)
Foreign Recruits: Steven Smith – Aus (2.2 crore), Tom Curran (5.25 crore), Sam Billings (2 crore) – Eng
Verdict: Good buys for the reserves with Umesh, Steve Smith, Tom Curran, and Billings (Smith most likely to warm the bench). Settled XI, great balance, but can they capture the big moments and maintain momentum?
Early Prediction: The 2020 finalists go one step further? Champions?
Squad: Ajinkya Rahane, Steven Smith, Sam Billings (WK), Tom Curran, Chris Woakes, Avesh Khan, Lukman Meriwala, Lalit Yadav, Manimaran Siddharth, Praveen Dubey, Ripal Patel, Vishnu Vinod (WK)
Indian Uncapped: Sheldon Jackson (20 lac), Vaibhav Arora (20 lac), Venkatesh Iyer (20 lac)
Foreign Recruits: Shakib Al Hasan – Ban (3.2 crore), Ben Cutting – Aus (75 lac)
Verdict: Shakib & Ben Cutting big steals for KKR, but not too sure about Harbhajan Singh & Pawan Negi? Envious finishing prowess, inexperienced Indian fast bowlers the concern, but the real question is—will Brendon McCullum’s notes produce the correct line-up?
Indian Uncapped: Yudhvir Singh (20 lac), Arjun Tendulkar (20 lac)
Foreign Recruits: Adam Milne (3.2 crore), Jimmy Neesham (50 lac) – NZ, Nathan Coulter-Nile (5 crore), Marco Jansen (20 lac) – SA
Verdict: Backups in the form of Chawla, Milne, Neesham & Zaheer Khan the mastermind behind the 20 year old left arm pacer, Marco Jansen. IPL 2021 is just an exercise to see how many different ways Mumbai Indians can come with to win the trophy.
Early Prediction: Just to change things a bit, they fail to qualify for the Top 4. Champions in the reverse direction (Who am I kidding?)
Foreign Recruits: Jhye Richardson – Aus (14 crore), Riley Meredith – Aus (8 crore), Dawid Malan – Eng (1.5 crore), Moises Henriques – Aus (4.2 crore), Fabian Allen – WI (75 lac)
Verdict: Dawid Malan, current word’s best T20 batsman, & Fabian Allen were quite the deal. Looking forward to Shahrukh Khan, the finisher, and hopefully Jalaj Saxena, the first class veteran. Definite contenders this time around. The change of name to PBKS to bring the luck?
Early Prediction: Top 4 Finish
Expected Starting XI
KL Rahul (C/WK), 2. Mayank Agarwal, 3. Dawid Malan/Chris Gayle, 4. Nicholas Pooran, 5. Deepak Hooda, 6. Shahrukh Khan, 7. Fabian Allen/ Moises Henriques, 8. Arshdeep Singh, 9. Chris Jordan/ Jhye Richardson, 10. Mohammad Shami, 11. Ravi Bishnoi
Foreign Recruits: Chris Morris – SA (16.25 crore), Mustafizur Rahman – Ban (1 crore), Liam Livingstone (75 lac)
Verdict: All weak points from IPL 2020 fixed. With Shivam Dube and Chris Morris, the double Rs may not have to rely on Tewatia magic alone. The foreign 4 pick themselves, but Miller, Livingstone, the Fizz, and Andrew Tye are T20 specialists themselves.
Early Prediction: Top 4 Finish…in the first half. Then momentum is lost, and they end up in the bottom two. The usual.
Foreign Recruits: Kyle Jamieson – NZ (15 crore), Glenn Maxwell – Aus (14.25 crore), Daniel Christian – Aus (4.8 crore)
Verdict: They won the Indian Premier League 2021 Auction battle—Maxwell, Kyle Jamieson, & Dan Christian. Finishing problems fixed. With basically the entire Indian bowling lineup returning from Australia’s success, promising uncapped openers, & the golden touch of Christian, RCB may finally cross the line.
Early Prediction: Finalists.
Expected Starting XI
1. Mohammed Azharudeen, 2. Devdutt Padikkal, 3. Virat Kohli (C), 4. AB de Villiers(WK), 5. Glenn Maxwell, 6. Daniel Christian, 7. Washington Sundar, 8. Kyle Jamieson/Daniel Sams, 9. Mohammed Siraj, 10. Navdeep Saini, 11. Yuzvendra Chahal
Foreign Recruits: Mujeeb Ur Rahman (1.5 crore) – Afg
Verdict: Kedhar Jadhav is a good backup choice for Vijay Shankar in case of injuries & Nabi-Rashid-Mujeeb together in Hyderabad, wow! They have the options, but can they figure their best XI in time?
Early Prediction: SRH lose several matches at the start, out of contention early, but will break the dreams of the teams in the middle at the backend of the tournament. Bottom 4 Finish.
Expected Starting XI
David Warner (C), 2. Wriddhiman Saha (WK), 3. Manish Pandey, 4. Kane Williamson, 5. Vijay Shankar/Kedar Jadhav, 6. Priyam Garg/Abdul Samad, 7. Rashid Khan, 8. Jason Holder/Mohammad Nabi/ Mujeeb-Ur-Rahman, 9. Bhuvneshwar Kumar, 10. T Natarajan, 11. Sandeep Sharma
Since this is the final IPL before the big auction in 2022, this small auction was expected to have several players unsold.
Broken Dreams of IPL 2021 Auctions:
Hanuma Vihari—hero of Sydney. Unpicked in the first couple of rounds, his name was called again for the final auction round. Still unsold. Insult to injury. Literally. (The only prominent currently in the Indian setup to not have a deal since Pujara was picked).
Aaron Finch—one of the best T20I players of all-time just could not manage a consistent IPL season.
Shaun Marsh, an end of an era. Along with Shane Watson, was the bright overseas star. KXIP stalwart in the early years, Orange Cap of IPL 2008, but could not buy any buyers.
Alex Hales. Enough said.
IPL Auction 2021: Entire Unsold List
Foreign: Alex Hales, Jason Roy, Evin Lewis, Aaron Finch, Glenn Phillips, Alex Carey, Kusal Perera, Sheldon Cottrell, Adil Rashid, Ish Sodhi, Qais Ahmad, Sandeep Lamichhane, Rovman Powell, Shaun Marsh, Corey Anderson, Devon Conway, Darren Bravo, Rassie van der Dussen, Martin Guptill, Marnus Labuschagne, Oshane Thomas, Billy Stanlake, Mitchell McClenaghan, Jason Behrendorff, Naveen Ul Haq, Ben Dwarshuis, Thisara Perera, Ben McDermott, Matthew Wade, Sean Abbott, Josh Inglish, Scott Kuggeleijn, Wayne Parnell, Reece Topley, Chris Green, Isuru Udana, George Linda, Jack Wildermuth, Gerald Coetzee, Tim David
Your Opinion Matters: Was Maxwell Overpriced & Hales Unlucky?
Let us know what you thought about the auction by commenting here below:
Was Glenn Maxwell overpriced? Is 2021 the year or are we still carrying IPL 2014 nostalgia?
The likes of Adil Rashid and Alex Hales do not find a team. First team England ditch Hales & now after top scoring in the BBL, no buyers. Contender for the unluckiest player of All-Time?
Steal of the Auction: Shakib Al Hasan, Dawid Malan, Fabian Allen, or Ben Cutting?
KKR’s buy of Harbhajan Singh? Why?
Here were my biggest winners and losers from Indian Premier League 2021 Auction. What did you think? What are YOUR predictions? Comment Below!
As nineteenth-century philosopher Soren Kierkegaard once said, “Life is not a problem to be solved, but a reality to be experienced.”
In this age of fast-paced technology and instant gratification, we sometimes focus too much on day-to-day activities and forget to appreciate life at the fullest. Here at Broken Cricket Dreams, we seek inspiration in our lives from cricketing events, relive childhood memories, and share our broken dreams.
Earlier, we did a piece on Cricket’s Reflections of Passion, where we discussed how each and every cricket is motivational in their own right, whether they have played 100 tests or just one. Similarly, today we discuss the life lessons from from IPL 2020.
IPL is a tournament where dreams come true. T. Natarajan, Mohammad Siraj, Yashasvi Jaiswal, the Afghan duo of Rashid and Nabi, and architect Varun Chakravarthy are just few of the countless examples. Their journeys are already so inspirational, even before taking the IPL in consideration.
This year has been different though due to the pandemic. IPL 2020 has provided the fans an ounce of relief that was needed. Here are 10 life lessons that IPL 2020 has provided us.
With the growing pandemic situation in India, it was never feasible to hold a full-fledged IPL there. The BCCI took the bold decision and moved it to UAE, putting all the safety precautions in place. Hats off to all the organizers, staff, commentators, and players for making this happen.
Seeds need the right environment to grow, and sometimes the soil is fertile elsewhere. In this case, soil was literally fertile elsewhere. It is completely okay to acknowledge that and nurture the seed where it is best poised for growth. So how can we apply this in our lives?
Life Lesson 1: Spread goodness and good ideas. Recognize that you will not be the center of attention all the time. Sometimes just stepping aside, encouraging others, and lending them a hand is just as important.
After struggling at 17 (23) in a mammoth chase of 226, Tewatia roared back with 5 sixes in an over against Sheldon Cottrell ending with 53 (31). The initial struggle even provoked the commentators to propose the ‘retire out’ option.
He battled and stayed in the game. Only someone with immense self-confidence and inner mental strength could overcome such pressure. This reminded me of Barack Obama’s iconic 2004 Democratic National Convention keynote address:
“Hope in the face of difficulty. Hope in the face of uncertainty. The audacity of hope.”
This is exactly what Rahul Tewatia has taught us this season.
Life Lesson 2: When life gives you lemons, weather the storm with the best of your abilities and come back with a bang. Hang in there. Before thinking of quitting, reflect on why we came into the profession in the first place.
Although he could not take KXIP across the line in the first attempt, he learned from his mistakes and made amends the second time around.
One of the stories of IPL 2020 was Mayank Agarwal. His toil in domestic cricket is well recorded. After years of piling the runs without national selection, he finally made it to international cricket.
Life Lesson 3: It is not the end till the end. Disappointments will occur. The important thing is to learn from this setback, not drag on the disappointments, and come back stronger.
4. Make Most of Your Opportunities
Moment:Anukul Roy and J. Suchith, aka specialist substitute fielders of IPL 2020.
They both changed games themselves by taking diving catches at crucial junctures of the game. In Hindi, Anukul means favorable. Throughout the tournament, he did just that—made situations favorable for himself.
Life Lesson 4: It is easy to get disheartened when you are on the sidelines or not getting that promotion, but you never know. Always be prepared. When your opportunity arrives, cash in. This may be the moment you have prepared all your life.
5. Synergy Above All
Moment: Team spirit of SRH and MI pushes them to the the playoffs (and championship)
Synergy is defined as “the interaction of elements that when combined produce a total effect that is greater than the sum of individual elements, contributions, etc” [1]. Sunrisers Hyderabad and Mumbai Indians were prime examples of this phenomenon in this tournament.
SRH were dealt with injury blows all throughout the tournament—Mitchell Marsh, Vijay Shankar, Wriddhiman Saha, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, and Kane Williamson on and off. Just take a look at SRH’s man of the match winners:
Rashid Khan, Priyam Garg, Jonny Bairstow, Manish Pandey, Wriddhiman Saha, Sandeep Sharma, Shahbaz Nadeem, and Kane Williamson.
Notice something? David Warner, Jason Holder, Abdul Samad do not even feature in this list.
Similarly, MI had contributions from each team member. Even the little contributions from Jayant Yadav in the final and Suryakumar Yadav’s sacrificial run-out for the betterment of the team turned out to be momentous.
Life Lesson 5: Teamwork, harmony, unity is more important than just individual contributions. This can be applied to sports, work, or education. Invest in collaborative efforts.
With plenty of Super Overs and Double Super Overs, this IPL was not short of excitement. Catches win matches, direct hits changes games. Still holds true. Given that the points table were extremely close at the end, these super overs may have changed some fates.
Life Lesson 6: Focus, Focus, Focus. Every moment matters, every detail matters. It is easy to be complacent and declare victory prematurely, but a small mistake can come back to haunt you.
7. Carry Old Baggage At Your Own Risk
Moment: Delhi Capitals and the Chennai Super Kings
Delhi Capitals were on a roll for the first half of the tournament, but they lost momentum drastically. Shikhar Dhawan and Marcus Stoinis blew hot and cold, ranging from match winning contributions to absolutely nothing. Holding on to older performances may have hindered DC to rise to the next level.
Another team that held on too long? CSK. Their old stars carried the baggage and credentials for maybe one season too long.
Life Lesson 7: Keep on Improving. Holding on to past performances, and achievements may hinder your present. Stay in the present, and “keep it simple, stupid.”
8. When One Era Closes, Another Opens
Moment: Dale Steyn and CSK on the way out, Padikkal, Garg, Gaikwad, and co. come to the party
Sports can provide legendary status to some during their careers. Dale Steyn and MS Dhoni are legends and will always remain so. IPL 2020 confirmed that their careers were on the last lap, and honestly it was a sad sight.
On the other hand, the Indian youngsters showed promise. They were so good, we could even make an uncapped XI out of them.
Life Lesson 8: Transitions are a part and parcel of life. Sometimes it is hard to let go, but it is going to be okay. We can relieve the old memories, but moving on at the right time is crucial.
9. Fix Roof When Sun Is Shining
Moment: Warning to Indian cricket for the future
The talent emerging in Indian cricket is tremendous. With nurturing from U-19, India A, and IPL squads and mentorship with people like Rahul Dravid, these cricketers are already a ready, mature product.
Although we have to take care of these youngsters, both physically and mentally, the BCCI needs to make sure these talents do not go wasted.
Mayank Agarwal barely made it, talents like Manish Pandey and Rishabh Pant have been mishandled, and Suryakumar Yadav is in the danger of not being selected in his prime.
Indian cricket needs to take the right decisions when the time is good. Otherwise, semi-final losses will become an excruciating pattern…
Life Lesson 9: Make hay when the sun shines. Everyone goes through high and lows. Just make sure to capitalize when the going is good, because it will not remain so forever.
10. Sportsmanship and Passion for the Game
Moment: Harsha Bhogle’s quote of the IPL, “That is what sport should be about. There is humanity off the field; competition on it and the two are never at odds with each other”
Sport is tough and competitive in nature, but outside of the stadium, all the players are human. The T20 leagues have definitely helped in building relationships across boundaries, and it would be great if cricket is actually played like the ‘gentleman’s game.’
Finally, without spectators, the will of the players was on display in IPL 2020. They played for the love of the game. The players did their best and competed with complete energy even without any external applause.
Life Lesson 10: Internal Motivation vs External Motivators – One should always give their best without expecting in return. Just keep on improving, give it your all, and leave the rest.
If this happens with the sportsmanship, then we have a win-win situation here. I would like to leave you with:
What is life without cricket? What is cricket without the life lessons?
Let us know which life lessons were your favorite in the COMMENTS below.
With the end of IPL 2020, fans and experts chipped in with their choices of the Dream Teams. Recently, social media went ablaze with Virender Sehwag’s highly debated IPL XI. Virat Kohli and David Warner at 4 and 5—it is easy to see why that was the case.
I will build two IPL Dreams today—the Obvious XI and the Non-Obvious XI. The goal is to see if my team could beat the Obvious Team of the Tournament. Here are the rules:
Have at least one uncapped player in each team
The IPL rules apply – 4 foreign players maximum
A wicketkeeper and 5 bowling options are necessary
In IPL 2020, the foreign fast bowlers were on fire—Jofra Archer, Kagiso Rabada, Anrich Nortje, but how many can you fit in? Additionally, the Indian squad have prolific wicketkeeper batsmen, but will all of them make it?
Tough choices to make…
IPL XI – The Dream Teams
The Non-Obvious XI
Here is my choice — the not-so-obvious Dream Team.
*Note: Bolded players represent the foreign players
Mayank Agarwal
Wriddhiman Saha (WK)
David Warner (C)
Suryakumar Yadav (U)
Kane Williamson
Sam Curran
Rahul Tewatia (U)
Anrich Nortje
Thangarasu Natarajan (U)
Varun Chakravarthy (U)
Mohammad Shami
*WK – Wicketkeeper, C – Captain, U – Uncapped
In the batting front, this team has sparkling openers, the experience of Warner and Williamson, Suryakumar Yadav’s flamboyance, and Sam Curran/Tewatia as floaters.
With Sam Curran and Shami as the opening swing bowlers, Nortje as the pace spearhead, Natarajan as the designated death bowler, the mystery of Varun, and the leg-spin of Tewatia, the bowling line-up is balanced. If necessary, even cool Kane Williamson can role over his arm.
The Obvious XI
Shikhar Dhawan
KL Rahul (WK)
Devdutt Padikkal (U)
AB De Villiers(C)
Ishan Kishan
Hardik Pandya
Rashid Khan
Jofra Archer
Kagiso Rabada
Jasprit Bumrah
Yuzvendra Chahal
*Orange Cap (Most Runs),Purple Caps (Most Wickets),Most Valuable Player (MVP)
With left-right hand combination (overrated but still) till No. 6 and bowling line-up of the decade, this is a pretty strong team. So, you decide, can my team defeat the Obvious XI?
Jofra Archer vs. David Warner, anybody? COMMENT BELOW AND LET US KNOW! Let us know of your IPL XI as well!
Honorable Mentions:
Quinton De Kock, Trent Boult, Jason Holder, Ben Stokes, Marcus Stoinis, Fafdu Plessis, Kieron Pollard, Chris Gayle, Abdul Samad, Ravindra Jadeja, Axar Patel, Ravi Bishnoi
I had a tough time leaving QDK and Boult out. Both were magnificent, but the 4-foreign player quota came into the equation.
Notice something? None of Virat Kohli, Rohit Sharma, or Shreyas Iyer (captains of 3 of the top 4 teams) make it into either of my XIs or the honorable mentions.
Would love to hear your thoughts on this…COMMENT BELOW AND LET US KNOW! Also share ahead and subscribe to our email list below:
This was a peculiar tournament in terms of player performance. While the foreign players and the Indian uncapped players impressed, the current and former Indian players disappointed.
Although Dhawan, Kohli, and Iyer were among the runs, none of them looked consistently convincing. Similarly, former IPL stars like Robin Uthappa and 2019 World Cup squad members — Rishabh Pant, Dinesh Karthik, MS Dhoni, Vijay Shankar, Kedar Jadhav, and Kuldeep Yadav — all had a sub-par season.
On the other hand, a 15-member squad could be created out of the impressive uncapped youngsters themselves:
IPL 2020 was the beginning of the end of the 2007 T20 World Cup and IPL 2008 era. The early stars are slowly fading away in the background, while the newer generation are storming to the forefront.
MI All-Time XI—we are finally to the end of the road.
They have won 2013, 2015, 2017, and 2019 so definitely odd champions so far. Post 2010, Mumbai Indians have put faith in their stars like Pollard and Malinga while giving space for youngsters like Bumrah, Pandyas, and Ishan Kishan/Suryakumar Yadav.
This balance has reaped them rewards. Their consistency will probably make this All-Time XI a little predictable, but let us wait and watch.
ALSO VOTE BELOW WITH YOUR MI ALL-TIME XI!
The Catch
One of the biggest headaches for MI has been Rohit Sharma’s position. Opener or #4?
Both Rohit and Sachin saw several opening partners from Jayasuriya to Lendl Simmons even to Ricky Ponting briefly and now, Quinton De Kock. Do any of these make your list?
How low do you bat Pollard? Remind you of 2010?
The battle of the Mitches – Mitchell Johnson vs Mitch McClenaghan.
Lasith Malinga. 3 ODI hat-tricks of which 2 came in World Cups. 2 T20I hat-tricks. 4 wickets in a row twice, once each in ODI and T20I. Enough said.
Alright, let me break that down a little more.
Taking 4 wickets in a match is considered good. He has done that in 4 consecutive deliveries multiple times. One hat-trick in a lifetime is a golden achievement. He has taken 3 wickets in 3 deliveries on five separate occasions.
Lasith Malinga has hat-tricks for breakfast. He is just that good.
Sri Lankan cricket has been struggling since the golden generation of Jayasuriya-Dilshan-Sangakkara-Jayawardane-Vaas-Muralitharan-Malinga came to an end. With Sri Lanka recently folding out for 91 in a T20I match against England, we cannot help but look back at one of the stars of the golden days of Sri Lankan cricket.
Malinga turned 37 last year. He has been playing international cricket for 16 years. It seems he has been playing cricket forever.
Same rocking hairstyle, same slinging action, and the same drive to excel. Lasith Malinga has not changed one bit.
The Beginning
Mali, as he is affectionately called, debuted way back in 2004 in a test match against Australia, picking six wickets in the match.
Among a rising golden generation of Sri Lankan cricket that followed the ’96 generation with mellow characters like Kumar Sangakkara, Mahela Jayawardene, Muttiah Muralitharan, Chaminda Vaas, and Tillakaratne Dilshan, Sri Lanka had found a rockstar.
He was just so different from the rest. That rockstar hair, the left-eye piercing, the in-swinging yorker, and of course, the slinging action.
Different turned into unique, which became something truly special.
With the introduction of Ajantha Mendis and Angelo Mathews, the new entrants to the M-factor: Malinga, Mendis, Muralitharan, and Mathews, Sri Lanka’s golden generation was complete.
Together, Sri Lanka would win the 2014 T20 World Cup, make it to the finals of 2007 & 2011 ODI World Cup as well as the 2009 & 2012 T20 World Cup along with semi-final appearances in the 2003 ODI WC and 2010 T20 WC.
Sri Lanka have been struggling recently. We cannot help but look back at the golden generation.
The Memory
Although I had seen Malinga a few times before, the first moment which caught my eyes was that match against South Africa in the 2007 CWC.
Chasing 210, South Africa were cruising 206-5 in 44.4 overs. Enter Lasith Malinga.
206-6. 206-7. 207-8. 207-9.
First person to take four wickets in four consecutive deliveries in an ODI.
South Africa squeezed to victory with just 10 balls remaining. Although South Africa narrowly escaped, this was the type of spell that would be associated with Malinga.
If Mali gets into his zone, a flurry of wickets, a moment of inspiration, and a comeback is right around the corner.
The Statistics
Due to knee troubles, Malinga had to take a premature retirement from Test match cricket, playing his final test in 2010, at the age of 26. Still ended up with 101 Test wickets.
But when one door closes, another opens. He utilized his short bursts effectively in T20 cricket, becoming arguably the best T20 bowler of all-time in this new era.
Furthermore, Malinga saved his best for the ODI World Cups. Apart from the two hat-tricks, he took 56 world cup wickets, 3rd highest of all time.
The shorter the format, the more lethal Malinga is, as the statistics demonstrate below:
Tests: 30 matches, 101 wickets, 33.15 average, Best Innings – 5/50, Best Match – 9/210
He featured in Cricinfo’s Team of the Tournament in the 2011 World Cup, the 2011 IPL (where he was also the Purple Cap holder), and the 2011 Champions League among others.
The cherry on top of the cake would occur in 2014, when he would captain Sri Lanka to 2014 T20 World Cup glory.
The IPL
No discussion on Malinga is complete without the IPL. Malinga is the highest wicket-taker in all IPLs,even while playing one season less than the next 4 on the list.
Only one of few players to have played for one team, Malinga is synonymous with the rise of Mumbai Indians as he was an instrumental force in their championship wins- 2013, 2015, 2017, and 2019.
Even after a not-that-great IPL, he would comeback and defend an amazing final over in the IPL Final 2019.
Apart from being their bowling spearhead, he has played a crucial role in mentoring the next generation of fast bowlers from around the world. Most notably, Jasprit Bumrah’s rise has been credited with Malinga’s influence at MI.
Later in his career, he has been seen on numerous occasions meeting players from opposition camps and giving them tips. Sign of a truly great player and leader.
What Makes Malinga So Great?
The consistency, accuracy, and longevity.
Bowling a yorker is hard. A bouncer even harder. Four World campaigns later, bowling consistently with recurring injury issues for 16 long years? A miracle.
Malinga’s skill set is an envy of the world. Slower yorker, fast yorker, in-swinging yorker, out-swinging yorker, wide-yorker, slower bouncer, fast-bouncer—he has it all. The astonishing part is he can bowl any of these at will. The Australians will testify to that.
Malinga’s bowling has become an art form. He perfected his yorkers by aiming just at a shoe in the nets. Slingy bowling style does not help the batsmen either.
More than the bowling style, it has been his ability to out-think the batsman. In the age of technology and video recordings, everyone knows what Malinga can bowl. They just do not seem to figure out when he will bowl what and still end up getting tricked.
The Legacy
One of the less talked about characteristics of Malinga has been his commitment to the Sri Lankan cricket team. Since the retirement of the golden generation, Sri Lanka’s fortunes have nosedived. Once guaranteed semi-finalists, Sri Lanka now ranks 7th and 8th in T20I and ODI respectively.
Amidst the nosedive, Mali stayed with the national team. He captained them in dire circumstances, even starring in their 2019 World Cup campaign and a little after to help in the transition.
Did he have to do that? Not really. With bad knees and paunch belly showing up, he could have retired from international cricket and enjoyed successes with various T20 leagues around the world.
But Mali being Mali, he decided to stay and give back to the team that has taken him to greatness.
That is what Lasith Malinga teaches us.
There will good times and tough times. Ups and downs will occur, but you need to stay true to your sport, art or profession. Never give up, continue to improve and develop new skills, and most importantly, mentor and help anyone and everyone out. Give back to the sport and your country.
Happy Birthday, Mali. You have given us great memories to cherish.
Rock that IPL 2020 (whenever you get there), and give it one final shot.
The Moments
Apart from the links above in the article, here are some of the hat-trick clips and other favorite memories of Malinga.
