Malinga bowed out of the 50-overs game with 338 wickets in 226 outings to his name. © AFP

Late Friday evening, Lasith Malinga brought an end to his illustrious ODI career in front of home fans in Colombo with a wicket off the last ball he bowled - taking him past Anil Kumble's tally of wickets in the 50-over format.

With that dismissal, Malinga took his count to 338, finishing as one of the finest match-winners to have donned Sri Lankan colours since 2004. Malinga was instrumental in Sri Lanka's 2011 World Cup campaign, picking 13 wickets in seven matches and has been a bowler that's managed to smoothen his team's transition in the post Chaminda Vaas era, which ended in 2004.

Malinga called on the younger bowlers among the current crop of national cricketers to up their game and become match-winners like him and Vaas from before in order to take Sri Lankan cricket forward.

"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," Malinga said at the presentation ceremony.

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

There was a lot of speculation surrounding his 50-overs future during and post the 2019 World Cup, but the 35-year-old deferred the decision initially and decided to bow out in front of his home crowd in Colombo.

The fans at the R Premadasa stadium didn't disappoint him, turning out in huge numbers and chanting his name for one last evening. He repaid that constant support, with a three-wicket haul (9.4-2-38-3) in Sri Lanka's 91-run victory in the first ODI against Bangladesh.

"I've played the last 15 years for Sri Lanka. Really an honour to play and really happy to play for these people and for all the crowd that's been behind me. I feel this is the time I have to move on because we have to build for the 2023 World Cup and that's why I realised, okay, my time is up, I have to go," he said.