Lasith Malinga becomes highest wicket-taker in T20Is

Sri Lanka’s veteran speed star Lasith Malinga has claimed the top position in the wicket-taker’s list in the shortest format of the game.

On Sunday, Malinga claimed his 99th T2oI wicket thus surpassed former Pakistani all-rounder Shahid Afridi to stand in top of the list.

Sri Lanka’s captain in T20Is, Malinga, began the series opener against against New Zealand two short of the record. He dismissed Kiwi opener Colin Munro for a golden duck leveling with Afridi with 98 wicket.

Later he sent back Colin de Grandhomme to reach into the coveted milestone.

The 36-year old finished with figures of 2/23 from his four overs.

Malinga who retired from Test cricket long back in 2011 and also bid farewell to limited over cricket in July this year, could be heading towards taking 100 wickets in the shortest format of the game.

Malinga finished with 338 wickets in 226 matches in ODIs. He is followed by Muttiah Muralitharan (523) and Chaminda Vaas (399). He’s the only player to have three hat-tricks in ODIs.

Across both Men’s and Women’s cricket, only two players have completed 100 T20I wickets. The West Indies Woman Anisa Mohammed leads the list with 115 wickets while Australia’s Ellyse Perry recently reached into the milestone. She has 103 wickets to her name in T20Is.

Earlier in the match, Malinga won the toss and opted to bat first against New Zealand. Opener Kusal Mendis’ 53-ball 79 and later Isuru Udana’s hard hitting helped the island nation to post 174 for 4 in the first innings.

Leading wicket-taking bowlers in Men’s T20 international

To T20I wicket taking bowlers of all-time

Sri Lanka skipper Lasith Malinga becomes the highest wicket-taker (99) in Twenty20 cricket. #SLvNZ pic.twitter.com/vHIinIMuqn

— Sri Lanka Cricket 🇱🇰 (@OfficialSLC) September 1, 2019