Is Malinga IPL's greatest bowler?

Sri Lanka and Mumbai Indians pace spearhead Lasith Malinga was rated as the greatest bowler in the Indian Premier League's history by his contemporaries.

Malinga was bestowed the honour by Star Sports commentators Kevin Pietersen, Dean Jones, Mathew Hayden, Aakash Chopra, Graeme Smith, Simon Doull, Ian Bishop and Tom Moody.

Mumbai Indians bowler Lasith Malinga. Photograph: BCCI

The Sri Lankan veteran, part of an elite 10-bowler nominee list, pipped the likes of Dale Steyn, Ashish Nehra, Sunil Narine and Jasprit Bumrah for the award.

'I'm going with Lasith,' says Pietersen. 'You look at the numbers he has served up and the way he has consistently used that yorker, that makes everyone talk about it.'

'Malinga is my guy.'

'I would go with Narine,' the former England batsman and captain adds, 'but he has bowled on wickets which helped turn. Also, he has been questioned on a few occasions for his suspect bowling action, so I am going with Malinga.'

Malinga, the first Sri Lankan to claim four wickets in four deliveries, also beat Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Ashish Nehra, Ravichandran Ashwin, Amit Mishra, Imran Tahir and Yuzvendra Chahal, who were also part of the nominee list.