Lasith Malinga Overawed by Matheesha Pathirana’s Continous Improvement at CSK

Legendary Sri Lankan pacer Lasith Malinga hasn’t failed in observing “continuous improvement” in Chennai Super Kings fast bowler Matheesha Pathirana‘s bowling in the ongoing 16th season of the Indian Premier League.

Malinga’s comments came in the wake of Pathirana registering career-best bowling figures in the biggest T20 league across the globe. Facing Mumbai Indians at the MA Chidambaram Stadium, the right-arm bowler’s figures of 4-0-15-3 comprised wickets of Nehal Wadhera (64), Arshad Khan (1) and Tristan Stubbs (20).

Just when Wadhera had started to open up in terms of playing the big shots, a pinpoint yorker from Pathirana saw him castling the stumps around his legs. The remaining two wickets had come on the back of both Khan and Stubbs getting out whilst playing aerial shots.

The fact that Pathirana bowled with an economy rate of 3.75 speaks highly of his impact in terms of not allowing the visiting batters to make the most of the death overs.

Lasith Malinga Overawed by Matheesha Pathirana’s Continous Improvement at CSK

Malinga, bowling coach of Rajasthan Royals, took to social media platform Twitter to express approval of a bowler from the rival team.

Knowing how Pathirana has a potentially successful international career lying ahead of him, Malinga was jubilant at the sight of the 20-year old player excelling under CSK captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni. Often spotted in a lot of in-match discussions with Dhoni, Pathirana wouldn’t have got a better personality to learn the craft from at this nurturing stage of his career.

Although Malinga and Pathirana are not related by any means, they often get confused for being brothers primarily due to a massive similarity between their unique bowling actions. Among the few pacers in international cricket with a slingy action, Sri Lankan fans must be desperately hoping for Pathirana to follow Malinga’s footsteps at the highest level.

Matheesha Pathirana IPL Stats

In nine IPL matches till date, Pathirana has picked 12 wickets at an average of 21.67, an economy rate of 7.61 and a strike rate of 17.08. Often trusted by Dhoni in the death overs, Pathirana has delivered more often than not for Super Kings till now.