- On this day Malinga took four wickets on four balls
- The team was up against South Africa in the World Cup 2007
- Unfortunately, Sri Lanka lost the match by just one wicket
On 28th March 2007, Sri Lanka’s deadliest bowler Lasith Malinga ripped through the South African batters to claim four wickets on four balls. This happened in the ICC Cricket World Cup 2007 in the match against South Africa in West Indies.
Sri Lanka, who batted first, had a really unimpressive first inning. Dilshan and Arnold in the middle were the only ones to score half-centuries. In the last over, the entire Sri Lankan team collapsed on 209 runs, a score hard to defend and easy to chase. But the Lankans had one hope in the form of Lasith Malinga. Charle Langeveldt took a five-wicket haul for South Africa.
Batting second, the Proteas were off to a fabulous start despite losing one of their key openers AB de Villiers. Captain and opener Graeme Smith posted 59 while Jacques Kallis bundled up 89 runs. Things were looking quite good for the Africans until the 45th over when Malinga struck the opposition with full force. First, a slower ball saw the end of Shaun Pollock. On the very ball, Andrew Hall scooped the ball that went into the covers and straight into the fielder’s hands. This marked the end of his over.
When he returned, he took two more victims on two consecutive balls starting with the most prized wicket of Kallis which also resulted in his hat-trick. But he wasn’t done yet. Malinga went on to york Makhaya Ntini who went back into the sheds with a zero. But the bowler’s efforts went in vain because the last standing pair held their grounds to finally take their side across the line. Sri Lanka came way too close to victory but couldn’t finish the job.
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