March 28, 2007. Sri Lanka and South Africa were facing off in the Super 8 stage of the World Cup and the Proteas seemed to cruise to an easy finish. South Africa were 206/5 and needed 4 runs in 32 balls with 5 wickets in hand. Easy win right? Wrong!
One man had other ideas. That man was Lasith Malinga. A really fast one castled Shaun Pollock and then Andrew Hall perished off the next delivery by giving an easy catch to Upul Tharanga. 206/7 after 45 overs, 4 needed from 30 balls and 3 wickets left. But even now, there was no cause for alarm.
AFP
That changed an over later. The score read 207/7 in 46 overs with 3 needed from 24 when Malinga ran in to bowl. He had taken 2 wickets off the last 2 balls of his previous over, which meant the man was on a hat-trick. Jacques Kallis was facing and he edged it to Sangakkara who gleefully accepted. Malinga had 3 in 3 and joined an elite list of players with World Cup hat-tricks. But he was not done yet. The next ball castled Makhaya Ntini and the score was 207/9! South Africa all of a sudden needed 3 from 22 but had just one wicket left. Malinga had 4 in 4 and to this day it remains the only instance of a bowler taking 4 wickets in 4 balls in a World Cup game.
AFP
The last pair held on to score 3 runs over a span of 2 overs. South Africa eventually won by 1 wicket and 10 balls to spare. What was looking like an easy win was a hard-fought victory thanks to Malinga. It remains one of the best spells in World Cup history.
South Africa ultimately lost to eventual champions Australia in the semis. Sri Lanka lost to the title holders in the final, but that day clearly belonged to Malinga.