Not that he didn’t face Rajasthan Royals in the last Indian Premier League season but Sri Lanka pacer Matheesha Pathirana bowling against them in IPL 2023 Match 37 last night increased the level of curiosity among fans with respect to him being related to legendary Sri Lanka fast bowler Lasith Malinga.
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Into his second IPL season at Chennai Super Kings, Pathirana was bowling in the presence of Malinga, who is the bowling coach of Royals. With both the right-arm bowlers among the rare group of international bowlers with a slingy action, it was enough for fans to assume them to be belonging to the same family in spite of different surnames.
Lasith Malinga Brother Name
Malinga, 39, was born to Separmadu Milton (father) and Swarna Thenuwara (mother) in Galle in 1983. Since there isn’t a lot of information available about his personal life, it is not confirmed if Malinga has siblings or not.
Is CSK’s Matheesha Pathirana Related to Malinga?
Having said that, one thing which is confirmed is that Pathirana and Malinga are not related to each other by any means other than having a similar bowling action.
Pathirana, 20, was born in Kandy in 2002. His father’s name is Anura Pathirana. Matheesha, who appears to be having a cordial bond with his two sisters (one of them is named Vishuka Pathirana), doesn’t have a brother. The same doesn’t mean that Pathirana is Malinga’s younger brother. In fact, as mentioned above, there is no relation between the two cricketing personalities.
Such comparisons, however, will continue to be on the rise especially once Pathirana becomes more accomplished in competitive cricket. For now, he has only played less than 20 matches (which includes one T20I last year) across formats in representative cricket. Other than the IPL, Pathirana has also had stints in Lanka Premier League and International League T20 in the recent past.
