Five-time IPL winners Mumbai Indians will take on the Rajasthan Royals in both sides’ second game of the season, a contest that has increasingly favoured the Royals of late. The clash will take place on April 2 at the DY Patil Sports Academy Stadium in Mumbai, and a lot of the focus will be on Jos Buttler, who boasts a staggering average of 75 against the Mumbai Indians.
However, T20 cricket legend Lasith Malinga, who spent his entire career at the Mumbai franchise, is now the bowling coach of the Royals and was seen interacting with his former teammates ahead of Saturday’s game.
Malinga was part of MI from way back in 2009 until his retirement prior to the IPL 2021. The Sri Lankan was the highest wicket-taker in the tournament’s history, with 170 scalps in 122 games, overtaken recently by Chennai Super Kings all-rounder Dwayne Bravo.
Malinga played his last Premier League game in the final of the 2019 season and finished his journey on a winning note in what was a fitting farewell for an icon of the shortest format of the game.
In a video shared on the Rajasthan Royals’ official Instagram handle, Malinga can be seen chatting with Suryakumar Yadav and Jasprit Bumrah. Yadav suggested that yet another former Mumbai player, Trent Boult, who now plays for the Royals, presented some new deliveries in the first game, and told Malinga:
“I see Boult is learning some tricks from you”.
Bumrah also joined the conversation, saying that Boult bowled a lot of yorkers in the Royals’ first game against Sunrisers Hyderabad, which they won by a huge margin. Malinga, however, calmly replied that a good bowler must have various deliveries at their disposal in order to be successful in the shortest format.
“That’s why we call him a bowler. He can bowl length, he can bowl yorkers, he can bowl slower balls and bouncers as well. That’s a bowler. As a skilled bowler, you have to do that,”
said the Sri Lankan.
After their disappointing loss against the Delhi Capitals in their season opener, MI will be looking to get their campaign off and running, but it will be a challenging task with the Royals in excellent form.
