Lasith Malinga

Lasith Malinga is a professional cricket player who was born in Galle, Sri Lanka in 1983.

He is a right-arm fast bowler who has represented his national side in international cricket in all three formats of the game.

His bowling action has been questioned in the sport and investigated by the ICC, although it was deemed legitimate following investigations.

The Sri Lankan retired from Test cricket in April 2011 but he still plays limited overs matches for Sri Lanka.

Malinga started his career in his home city of Galle in 2001. He had two spells at the club before signing for Nondescripts in 2004.

The fast bowler's form in domestic cricket was enough for Sri Lanka to call him up to their national team for a Test match against Australia on July 1, 2004. It came at Darwin's Marrara Oval where he starred by picking up six wickets, including those of Adam Gilchrist and Darren Lehman.

A month later, Malinga played in a 50-overs match against the United Arab Emirates. He was also part of the team that played their first national Twenty20 game against England in June, 2006.

The Sri Lankan became a regular in the Test and one-day teams. He was influential in helping his side pick up a draw in the 2006/2007 series away to New Zealand as he dismissed a large part of the Kiwis' top order.

During the 2007 World Cup, Malinga made history by taking four wickets in four consecutive balls in a match against South Africa. He was responsible for the dismissals of Shaun Pollock, Andrew Hall, Jacques Kallis and Makhaya Ntini. Sri Lanka were able to reach the final for the first time in their history but were beaten there by Australia by 53 runs by the Duckworth-Lewis method.

Four years later, during the event held in India, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh, he recorded his second hat-trick at a World Cup in a group game against Kenya. The 2007 runners-up were defeated in the final again, this time by India by six wickets.

Sri Lanka have also twice gone close to landing the World Twenty20 competition with Malinga in their side. They lost to Pakistan at Lords in the 2009 final, while more recently it was the West Indies who denied them their maiden success in their home tournament in 2011.

Malinga currently plays for the Mumbai Indians in Indian Premier League (IPOL), while he also features in the Bangladesh Premier League (BPL) and Australia's Big Bash League.

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