IPL 2022: Rajasthan Royals appoint Lasith Malinga as fast-bowling coach
Rajasthan Royals have appointed Lasith Malinga as their fast-bowling coach for the upcoming Indian Premier League (IPL) season. Malinga, who served Mumbai Indians' bowling attack for years, retired from all forms of cricket in September last year. He recently traveled to Australia as Sri Lanka's Bowling Strategy Coach. Meanwhile, the Royals have named Paddy Upton the "Team Catalyst". Here are further details.
"It's a wonderful feeling for me to return to the IPL and an absolute honor to join Rajasthan Royals, a franchise that has always promoted young talent," Malinga said. "I am excited by the pace bowling unit we have going into the tournament and looking forward to supporting all the fast bowlers with the execution of their game-plans and their overall development.
One of the greatest fast bowlers, Malinga, served Sri Lanka cricket for nearly 16 years. The 38-year-old, who led Sri Lanka to World T20 title in 2014, has over 100 wickets in all three formats of the game. Earlier this year, Malinga was appointed Sri Lanka's bowling strategy coach for the T20I series in Australia. In 2018, he operated as Mumbai Indians' bowling mentor.
Malinga was a prized possession for Mumbai Indians in the IPL. He is still the leading wicket-taker in the league, having scalped 170 wickets. He has the best average (19.80) among bowlers with 50 or more IPL matches. Malinga also has the joint-most four-wicket hauls in the tournament along with Narine (6). He is one of the few bowlers with an IPL five-for.
Malinga holds the record for taking most hat-tricks in white-ball cricket (ODIs: 3, T20Is: 2). He is the only bowler to take four wickets from as many consecutive deliveries in both ODI (vs South Africa, 2007) and T20I cricket (vs New Zealand, 2019).
Malinga will supervise the likes of Trent Boult, Prasidh Krishna, KC Cariappa, and Navdeep Saini among others at Rajasthan Royals this year. Malinga would work with his former captain Kumar Sangakkara, who is RR's head coach and director of cricket. The champions of the inaugural edition (2008), Royals, will open their campaign in the 2022 season against Sunrsiers Hyderabad on March 29 in Pune.
Besides Malinga, Paddy Upton has been named as "Team Catalyst" of RR. The latter was the head coach of RR from 2013 to 2015 and in 2019. As a Team Catalyst, he will "play a crucial role in establishing team integration by bringing them together as a cohesive and mutually supporting unit, and look after their mental well-being".
