India vs Sri Lanka 2017: Lasith Malinga must reinvent himself to stay in contention for 2019 World Cup

Over 29.3

Virat Kohli picks up a length ball from Lasith Malinga and smashes it straight to sweeper cover to be dismissed for 131.

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On any other day, the Indian skipper would have sent that ball soaring over the fence. On Thursday, he was just plain unlucky. Not Lasith Malinga though, who will consider himself very lucky to nab Virat Kohli as his 300th wicket. The Sri Lankan veteran had become just the 11th bowler and fourth Sri Lankan to the landmark. He was also the fifth fastest to the landmark.

Rohit Sharma, at the non-striker’s end walked up to his Mumbai Indians teammate and hugged him to convey his appreciation. Imagine Steve Waugh walking upto Curtly Ambrose to congratulate him on a wicket. The Indian Premier League had swept aside differences between nations and the age-old trench that once separated countries in cricket seems to have vanished.

Over 50

India wrap up their innings on 375/5 with a 10 run over from Lasith Malinga. The ‘Slinga’ finishes his spell which reads 10-0-82-1.

This was the eighth time in One Day Internationals that Malinga had gone for 80+ runs in a completed spell, a world record by a considerable margin given that the next best, Wahab Riaz, has only four.

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This wasn’t the Malinga of 2004-05 that threatened the toes of batsmen with his searing yorkers. This wasn’t the Malinga that would hoodwink batsmen with his umpteen slower varieties. This wasn’t the Malinga that grabbed four wickets in four balls in an ODI in 2007. This wasn’t the Malinga who silenced Mumbai (albeit, temporarily) on that fateful evening in 2011.

Once a toe-crushing, awe-inspiring, relentless yorker specialist, the Sri Lankan appears to be a shadow of his younger self. He isn’t the fit and smiling rockstar who took the world by surprise with his horizontal arm action and multitude of bowling varieties. Sadly, he appears a spent force at the moment with the only thing remaining intact being his funky noodle hair.

Sri Lanka’s sports minister Dayasiri Jayasekara had criticised the fitness levels of players after Sri Lanka failed to reach the semi-finals of the Champions Trophy in England earlier this year. An agitated Malinga retorted vehemently.

“I don’t care about criticism from those who are simply warming chairs. What does a monkey know about a parrot’s nesting hollow? This is like a monkey getting into a parrot’s nest and talking about it,” the pacer had lashed out.

When Sri Lanka conducted the much-discussed “yo-yo” endurance test, only two players — Lahiru Madushanka and Dushmantha Chameera — had reasonable levels of fitness. Lasith Malinga, sources reveal, weighed 80 kilograms (176 pounds), and failed one test while barely crossing the mark in the other three.

But fitness alone isn’t the concern although it could be one of the primary reasons for Malinga’s waning form. He has been downright awful in the past three years and is, unfortunately, starting to become a burden for Sri Lankan cricket.

He did not figure in a single ODI in 2016 and in 2017, in 12 ODIs, he has nine wickets at an appalling average of 65.33, his worst career average in a year. Even his strike rate, that stood at an astonishing 24.00 in 2011, stands at 65.33 this year. The economy rate, something that stood out in his initial years, has gone above six in 2017 but this has constantly been on the rise since 2012.

Here’s a rundown of his overall figures from the year 2012 onwards:

Malinga’s disturbing returns this year do not auger well for Sri Lankan cricket especially with a World Cup-sized cloud looming large on the horizon. They need to groom bowlers for the event in 2019 and if Malinga isn’t going to make it, there is no point in sticking with him now. However, he doesn’t think so. “I am ready to play until 2023,” he had said recently _._

That said, the veteran fast bowler also seems to realise that he needs to add more value to the side. He came back after an 18-month layoff in 2017 but hasn’t been the bowler he once was. The pace has dropped and his magic touch has dissipated. Malinga has apparently sought the advice of Zaheer Khan in prolonging his career. The duo shares a strong bond after sharing bowling duties at Mumbai Indians in the IPL for five long years. They also share similar career graphs and with Zaheer donning a mentor role to perfection in recent times, Malinga did not have to search too far before approaching the Indian seamer.

“Zaheer is more of a seam and swing bowler, and I want to learn more of that kind of thing over the next few years. That’s what I discussed with him,” the Sri Lankan pacer had said.

Before the fourth ODI, Malinga had fervently argued that he still makes a contribution to the team as the leader of the pace bowling pack. With that in mind, every king is expected to lead the army into battle and Malinga has failed to do that thus far in this series.

There were no words minced in his statements before the fourth ODI against India: “I have played 14 years of international and franchise cricket. I have played (against) every other country and every single player in international cricket. Now I’m 34. My pace is cut down. If you (would have) asked me (this) 10 years ago, I wouldn’t have expected that. But whoever is coming towards the end of his career, there are failures. People talk about them not being fit enough, or not picking him.”

Playing until 2019, never mind 2023, will require him to make several adjustments to compensate for his loss in pace. The spring in his run-up is sorely missing and unless he recovers his lost mojo soon enough, Sri Lanka will be scouting the Islands for younger fast bowlers.