#ThisDayThatYear: Slinga Malinga stuns South Africa with a hat-trick
Lasith Malinga defied the laws of cricket with his quirky action bowling action after announcing himself in 2004. However, his moment of glory arrived during the World Cup 2007 when he took a hat-trick to turn a dead rubber against the Proteas upside down. A fourth consecutive scalp in the same over was icing on the cake. Here is how the action unfolded.
Sri Lanka were bundled out for 209
Batting first, Sri Lanka were off to a Shaky start, having lost both the openers early on. Kumar Sangakkara tried to stitch a stand with skipper Mahela Jayawardene, but the duo was soon removed. The onus was now on Tillakaratne Dilshan and Russel Arnold, who added 97 runs together. South Africa blew off the tail quickly to fold Sri Lanka innings on 209.
South Africa dominated the chase in the entire game
South Africa's chase was duly powered by captain Graeme Smith (59) and Jacques Kallis (86) following AB de Villiers' early dismissal. They were cruising towards victory on 160/2 before Muttiah Muralitharan provided Sri Lanka two quick breakthroughs. Sanath Jayasuriya sent another one packing in the form of Justin Kemp. South Africa needed mere four runs from six overs ahead of Malinga's miraculous over.
Maling scalped four to make a turnaround for Sri Lanka
Malinga was into his eighth over wherein Shaun Pollock scored six from the first four balls. The right-hander cleaned up both Pollock and Andrew Hall with smearing yorkers on remaining two deliveries. In his next over, Kallis nicked one behind on the very first ball as Malinga completed his hat-trick. Makhaya Ntini was also uprooted, fetching him a memorable fourth wicket.
Sri Lanka lost the game, but Malinga entered record books
Although Robin Peterson stole a four off Malinga to win a nail-biter for South Africa, Malinga's valiant effort became the highlight of the World Cup. Besides, Malinga repeated this incredible feat 12 years later, this time in a T20I. He snapped up four in four against New Zealand in the third game, registering a second hat-trick of his T20I career.
