Pacer says he gets hysteric every time he picks Sachin’s wicket
ADELAIDE: If Lasith Malinga celebrates a little bit more than he usually does after breaching the defences of Sachin Tenulkar, please excuse him. Reason: The Little Master is his favourite batsman and Malinga loves bowling to the batting maestro. Malinga bowled a beauty that beat Tendulkar lock, stock and barrel to give Sri Lanka the start they needed on Tuesday.
He looked set to give his side a dream end too by having Harbhajan plumb in front of the wickets in the penultimate over of the match at the Adelaide Oval. But it was not to be.
“We thought he could do it again,” Kumara Sangakkara said recollecting the pacer’s four-in-four against South Africa in the World Cup. But Mahendra Singh Dhoni’s alert advice to his No 10 batsman Ishant Sharma — on how to avert the yorkers — saved the day for the Men in Blue. But Malinga ended the match with his reputation going further up.
After the match, Malinga was visibly and audibly distraught. He would say thanks for the good effort, but would not go much further. “I tried my best,” he added. A sense of disappointment was obvious in his voice.
According to Malinga, Tendulkar is the best batsman in the Indian team. “He is a very difficult batsman, but I enjoy bowling to him.”
Malinga rubbished claims of being a one-dimensional bowler and said he likes to vary his bowling speed other than the yorkers. “I can bowl good bouncers too,” he said.
The 24-year-old Sri Lankan is not famous not only for his unorthodox slinging bowling action, but also for the unorthodox hair-do. “I’ like my hair style. I did it before the World Cup and many people have liked it in my country,” he said.
