Malinga finished with 338 wickets in 226 matches, finishing as one of the finest match-winners to have played for Sri Lanka since 2004. He is Sri Lanka's third highest wicket-taker in ODI cricket after Muttiah Muralitharan (523) and Chaminda Vaas (399).

After the match, he insisted it was the right time for him to retire as Sri Lanka begin rebuilding for the next World Cup. The pacer bowler, who will turn 36 next month, urged the younger generation to step up. "My captains expect me to take wickets," Malinga said at the post-match presentation. "I tried my best all through my career. I hope all the young bowlers do this as well. Because just surviving in cricket, I don't think anyone can go far. You have to be a match-winner.

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"That's what I'm looking forward to in the future. These young bowlers have to get match-winning performances and people have to say, 'That's a match-winning bowler!' We have a couple of guys, they have the ability and we have to look after them."

He is the only bowler to have taken three ODI hat-tricks. He achieved his highest ranking of seventh in November 2011, achieved against Pakistan in Dubai. Malinga chose to bow out in front of the home crowd, and they turned out in huge numbers to send him off.

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