Meet Matheesha Pathirana a.k.a junior Malinga — the Sri Lankan medium pacer

• Matheesha Pathirana made his IPL debut by taking a wicket on his first ball.
• The Sri Lankan medium pacer had replaced New Zealand’s Adam Milne in CSK’s playing 11.
• Currently, he is the eighth player to embark on their IPL journey with a first-ball wicket haul.

Matheesha Pathirana, currently playing for Chennai Super Kings in the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2022, had a match to remember against Gujarat Titans on Sunday, May 15, at Wankhede Stadium.

The Sri Lankan medium pacer had replaced New Zealand’s Adam Milne and made his IPL debut on May 15.

Gujarat Titans had posted par at 134 runs and raced to 59/0 at the end of seven overs with Wriddhiman Saha on 40 along with Shubman Gill at 18 runs off 16 balls.

Chennai Super Kings skipper MS Dhoni asked to bowl Pathirana for the eighth over. The Sri Lankan pacer has bowling skills quite similar to bowling legend Lasith Malinga.

He took the Shubman Gill’s wicket immediately after bowling the first ball of his first-ever IPL match. He pinned Gill with leg before wicket, which seemed to be heading the middle stump.

Pathirana joins the list of bowlers who made first ball wicket debut

The 19-year-old pacer is reportedly not the first one to take a wicket on his first ball of the IPL debut match. Ishant Sharma, Wilkin Mota, and Shane Harwood were the first ones to make history in IPL.

Pathirana, on Sunday, added his name to the list and currently, he is the eighth player to embark on their IPL journey with a first-ball wicket haul.

Twitter is exploding with the new nickname ‘Baby Malinga’

CSK fans are going crazy after the debutant pacer after he made his appearance with a smooth leg-before wicket delivery. Having similar skills as Lasith Malinga, fans are now calling him ‘Baby Malinga’ or ‘Junior Malinga’.

He is an ‘excellent death bowler’

Impressed with his bowling skills, CSK skipper MS Dhoni, told Star Sports, “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.”

CSK signed Pathirana as a replacement for injured Adam Milne, and reportedly, he is on contract for this season. Super Kings coach Stephen Fleming may retain him if he consistently performs well.

An impressive cricket journey so far

Pathirana will be the second Sri Lankan player in the CSK line-up after spinner Mahesh Theekshana. He played exceptionally well for Sri Lanka under-19 in the ICC Under-19 World Cup this year by taking 7 wickets in 4 matches at an average of 27.28.

Just like Malinga, who was the second-highest wicket-taker in the IPL with 170 wickets, Pathirana too can serve up fast, toe-crushing yorkers.

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