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Matheesha Pathirana: The Baby Malinga Of CSK

Chennai Super Kings (CSK) skipper MS Dhoni relied on a rather less-known player in Matheesha Pathirana when their match against the Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) was at a crucial juncture. RCB needed 35 off the last three overs during their IPL 2023 clash when Pathirana was handed the ball.

The young CSK star did not disappoint and ended up giving away just four runs while also taking the much-needed wicket of Shahbaz Ahmed. He also successfully defended 20 runs in the final over to help steer CSK register an eight-run victory at the Chinnaswamy on 17th April 2023. As many cricket enthusiasts don’t know much about this hidden star, let’s have a deeper look at Matheesha Pathirana, whose arm action closely resembles Lasith Malinga.

Matheesa Pathirana: ‘Baby Malinga’ makes raves in IPL 2023

Born on 18th December 2002 in Kandy, Pathirana kickstarted his professional career when he was included in Sri Lanka’s squad for the ICC U19 World Cup in 2020. Later on, he also got a chance to feature in the SLC Invitational T20 League back in 2021.

He also featured in the 2022 ICC U-19 World Cup and had impressive outings in the tournament. Matheesha Pathirana ended up picking seven wickets from four matches while registering an economy of 6.16. Following his exploits at the U-19 level, Pathirana got a chance to feature in the Indian Premier League. It is interesting to notice how the young bowler hadn’t played a first-class game before making his IPL debut.

Matheesha Pathirana IPL Career 

Chennai Super Kings signed Matheesha Pathirana, roping him for Indian Premier League in April 2022 as a replacement for Adam Milne. He made a debut against Gujarat Titans in IPL 2022, Wearing the no. 99 at the back, with a Lasith Malinga-esque bowling action.

Pathirana managed to get a wicket on his first delivery in Indian Premier League as the Sri Lanka pacer got rid of Subhmann Gill.  Citing his action, Matheesha Pathirana started to be called as Baby Malinga after the speedster modelled his bowling action on the legendary Sri Lankan pacer Lasith Malinga.

Later on, the Sri Lankan took another wicket off the first ball of his over in his second spell of the match. Bowling the 13th over, Pathirana dismissed Titans captain Hardik Pandya.  He played only 1 more match in IPL 2022 before getting an opportunity to break into the team once again next year. 

Matheesha Pathirana IPL stats

Year	Matches	Balls	Runs	Wickets	Strike Rate	Economy	Best Figures
2022	2	41	52	2	20.50	7.61	2/24
2023*	1*	24*	42*	2*	12.00*	10.50*	2/42*

Matheesha Pathirana had a impressive outing against RCB in IPL 2023. Given his ability to take up the responsibility in the death overs, while also surprising the batsmen with his action, Pathirana will aim to play a bigger role for CSK in IPL 2023. It remains interesting to see if the young pacer is a part of Dhoni’s plans for their upcoming fixtures of would the veteran CSK’s skipper  make changes to his team. 

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