3 similarities between Matheesha Pathirana and Lasith Malinga
Chennai Super Kings (CSK) pacer Matheesha Pathirana made his mark in the IPL when he helped his team beat the Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) in a cliff-hanger at the Chinnaswamy Stadium on Monday, April 17.
He picked up figures of 2/42 in his four overs in a high-scoring contest, including a spell of 2/14 in his final two overs with the side defending 35 off 18 balls. Pathirana bowled a brilliant 18th over, conceding just four, and successfully defended 19 runs in the final over, helping CSK beat RCB by eight runs.
Pathirana was signed by the franchise as a replacement for the injured New Zealand pacer Adam Milne a year ago. The 20-year-old made his IPL debut against the Gujarat Titans (GT) in last year's edition and immediately turned heads as he dismissed Shubman Gill with his first delivery. He also picked up the wicket of Titans skipper Hardik Pandya later in the innings to end with figures of 2/24.
CSK skipper MS Dhoni was highly impressed by the youngster's skills and said after his debut game:
“He is an excellent death bowler. Also, with his action, it is slightly difficult to pick. He has got that slower one also. So you have to watch him very carefully. Which means when you spend those extra seconds watching the ball and he is bowling at a decent pace, it becomes quite difficult to consistently hit him."
Matheesha is yet to play first-class cricket but was part of Sri Lanka's squad for the ICC U19 World Cup in 2020. He made his international debut in the Asia Cup against Afghanistan a year ago but bowled just the solitary over. He was part of the Sri Lankan white-ball squad for the recently-concluded tour to New Zealand but did not feature in the playing XI in any of the games.
While Pathirana is still very young in his career, a lot of comparisons have already been made between him and his compatriot Lasith Malinga, referring to him as Baby Malinga. Malinga has represented Sri Lanka for almost 17 years and was regarded as the best death bowler of his time. He also captained the Sri Lankan T20 World Cup-winning side in 2014.
Malinga also played for the Mumbai Indians from 2008 to 2020 and was instrumental in the side winning five IPL titles during that span. He is currently the fast bowling coach for the Rajasthan Royals. In his illustrious IPL career, Malinga picked up 170 wickets from just 122 matches at an enviable average of 19.80 at an economy rate of 7.14.
While Pathirana has a long way to go to become the next Lasith Malinga, let's look at three glaring similarities.
# 1 Pathirana has a similar action to Malinga
Matheesha Pathirana has a unique low and slinging bowling action, similar to Lasith Malinga. The bowling action helped Malinga nail down yorkers with pinpoint accuracy, and Pathirana has shown similar accuracy so far in his young career.
Matheesha spoke about the comparison with Malinga in 2019 when his unique bowling action caught people's attention. He said:
“People have started comparing my bowling action with Malinga. Actually, Malinga is a legend; not only to me but to all the worldwide cricket fans. I’d like to walk in his steps and be a cricketer like him one day. I have heard that people say I bowl in a different style, many address my style is slingy."
# 2 Pathirana is considered a death-overs specialist like Malinga
Like Malinga, Pathirana can also bowl at a good pace and execute toe-crushing yorkers at will, which makes him extremely valuable at the death, especially to new batters and tail-enders.
Malinga was arguably the greatest death bowler of his generation with his ability to nail yorkers and deceive batters with slower balls. In his career, Malinga has bowled 255 overs at the death (overs 16-20) and has picked up 138 wickets at an impeccable economy rate of just 7.90 runs per over.
The youngster's action and skill set, in combination with performances like the one against RCB in the death overs, will see his stock as a death-specialist rise.
# 3 Matheesha also hails from Sri Lanka and wears No.99 in the IPL.
It is well remembered that the great Lasith Malinga wore jersey No. 99 to represent both Sri Lanka and his IPL franchise, Mumbai Indians.
His heir-apparent is following suit, as Pathirana also hails from Sri Lanka and has 99 as his jersey number for CSK.
Matheesha will look to emulate his hero Lasith Malinga by starring in title runs for his IPL franchise and country.