You cannot take Lasith Malinga out of Mumbai Indians or Mumbai Indians from Lasith Malinga, such is the inseparable bond between both. Those countless yorkers not only rattled the stumps of batters but went straight into the hearts of the Paltan.

With four IPL titles and a total of 195 wickets from 139 matches, Malinga truly owned the Blue and Gold attire and is still Mumbai Indians’ top wicket-taker. The golden hair locks, the smiling face, the unorthodox action and those unerring yorkers, all are part of the MI folklore.

On his 41st birthday, let us turn our clocks to have a glimpse of ‘slinga’ Malinga’s enormous contributions to our winning campaigns.

IPL 2013: King of consistency

If consistency has a definition, it should be Lasith Malinga. After finishing as the top wicket-taker in IPL 2011 and MI’s top bowler in IPL 2012, Malinga clocked the 20-wicket mark for the third consecutive season as we won our first title in 2013.

One should learn from Mali on how to deliver in big matches. In the final, defending just 148, Malinga gave us a dream start picking up back-to-back wickets in the first over to reduce Chennai Super Kings to 2/2 and they never recovered from that. That first over was a sheer goosebumps moment for the Paltan.

IPL 2015: Another year, another Malinga show

Mali was again in the midst of the action in our second title triumph, this time finishing as MI’s top wicket-taker with 24 scalps from just 14 matches. In his first seven years with MI, Mali finished on top of the bowling charts an unbelievable five times.

It was as though he was in remote control mode, executing inch-perfect yorkers one after the other. In another final against the CSK, Malinga shone with an impressive spell of 2/25, which included the prized scalp of MS Dhoni, to tilt the match in our favour.

IPL 2017: Showing Resilience

After missing IPL 2016 with a knee injury, Mali showed great resilience and character to return to our fold in 2017. Bowling a nerve-wracking 18th over in the high-stakes final against Rising Pune Supergiant, Malinga conceded just seven runs to put us in the driving seat for our third title in a low-scoring humdinger.

IPL 2019: What a way to end your IPL career

Mali painted his swansong with a clutch performance, something that the Paltan can never forget in this lifetime. Any player would have resigned to his fate, after a spell of 0/42 in three overs. Surely not Lasith Malinga! He showed admirable grit and a stomach for a fight.

Mali just loves the big stage and with arch-rival CSK in the final, the Paltan always had the belief. With five pacy yorker length deliveries and two needed off the last ball, Mali showed nerves of steel to nail the perfect slower delivery. Rest is history as MI won their fourth IPL title.

A wicket off his final ball to win the title, Mali walked away as a stalwart of the Blue and Gold army. What a way to sign off!