IPL playerSri Lanka2009 to 2019
Lasith Malinga
On scorecards: SL Malinga · Right-hand bat
Lasith Malinga, a bowler, played nine IPL seasons, all of them with Mumbai Indians. Four titles came along the way.
The arrival
Lasith Malinga's first IPL season was 2009, with Mumbai Indians, a signing made outside the auction.
That first season brought 13 matches and 18 wickets at 6.24 an over.
The peak
The best season was 2011, for Mumbai Indians: 28 wickets at 5.91 runs an over, while the league's bowlers went for 7.51, with best figures of 5 for 13. Eight seasons brought 15 wickets or more (2009, 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014, 2015 and 2019).
One franchise
Lasith Malinga spent the whole IPL career with Mumbai Indians, from 2009 to 2019, although 2016 and 2018 passed without an appearance. Mumbai Indians bought Lasith Malinga at the auction in 2008 and 2019. The club won four titles with Lasith Malinga in the side: 2013, 2015, 2017 and 2019.
How the wickets came
With the ball, 170 wickets in 2,845 deliveries, at 7.10 runs an over against a league rate of 7.81 for the same seasons: 0.71 an over cheaper than the typical bowler of the time, the mark of a bowler who kept things tight. There were seven four-wicket hauls, and the best figures were 5 for 13.
40.5% of the balls Lasith Malinga bowled were dots, a higher share than 83% of the 150 bowlers with 500 balls or more; a wicket came every 16.6 balls.
The fielding record: 15 catches and 6 run-outs.
At the auction
Lasith Malinga went under the hammer three times, bought twice and left unsold once. The highest price was ₹2 cr, paid by Mumbai Indians in 2019. Unsold in 2018, Lasith Malinga was bought again in 2019 by Mumbai Indians. Being bought did not always mean playing: no match followed for Mumbai Indians in 2008.
Seasons without an auction entry were played under a retention, a trade or a signing made outside the auction.
The legacy
On the all-time IPL lists, among 810 players, Lasith Malinga finished 11th for wickets.
Season by season
| Season | Team | M | Runs | HS | Avg | SR | 50/100 | Wkts | Econ | Best | Ct | POTM | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2009 | Mumbai Indians | 13 | 0 | 0 | 0.0 | – | 0/0 | 18 | 6.24 | 3/11 | 2 | ||
| 2010 | Mumbai Indians | 13 | 1 | 1* | – | 100.0 | 0/0 | 15 | 7.02 | 4/22 | 2 | 1 | |
| 2011 | Mumbai Indians | 16 | 8 | 7 | 4.0 | 88.9 | 0/0 | 28 | 5.91 | 5/13 | 2 | 2 | |
| 2012 | Mumbai Indians | 14 | 55 | 17 | 9.2 | 103.8 | 0/0 | 22 | 6.29 | 4/16 | 4 | 1 | |
| 2013 | Mumbai Indians | 17 | 9 | 7 | 2.3 | 50.0 | 0/0 | 20 | 7.13 | 3/39 | 2 | Champions | |
| 2014 | Mumbai Indians | 10 | 2 | 2 | 2.0 | 50.0 | 0/0 | 16 | 6.43 | 4/23 | 0 | ||
| 2015 | Mumbai Indians | 15 | 6 | 6* | – | 60.0 | 0/0 | 24 | 7.32 | 4/23 | 2 | 1 | Champions |
| 2017 | Mumbai Indians | 12 | 7 | 7* | – | 233.3 | 0/0 | 11 | 8.46 | 2/5 | 1 | Champions | |
| 2019 | Mumbai Indians | 12 | 0 | – | – | – | 0/0 | 16 | 9.70 | 4/31 | 0 | 1 | Champions |
Franchise journey
- Mumbai Indians: 2009 to 2019
Ball-by-ball detail
| Metric | Value |
|---|---|
| Dot balls faced | 55.6% |
| Balls per four | 16.5 |
| Balls per six | 19.8 |
| Dot balls bowled | 40.5% |
| Balls per wicket | 16.6 |
| Catches | 15 |
| Run-outs | 6 |
| Stumpings | 0 |
At the auction
| Auction | Set | Base price | Result |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2008 | Set H | ₹80 lakh | Sold to Mumbai Indians for ₹1.40 cr (US$350k) |
| 2018 | Fast Bowler | ₹1 cr | Unsold |
| 2019 | – | ₹2 cr | Sold to Mumbai Indians for ₹2 cr |
Sources
- CricArcade IPL season statistics
- CricArcade IPL auction archive
- Kaggle IPL Complete Match Dataset 2008-2026, ball-by-ball, cross-checked against Cricsheet