IPL 2022 | Matheesha Pathirana gets off to a flying start on his IPL debut

Matheesha Pathirana, a 19-year old pacer from Sri Lanka, has got off to a fairytale start in the Indian Premier League (IPL). The pace prodigy made his IPL debut for the Chennai Super Kings (CSK) against the Gujarat Titans (GT). 

Thanks to his quirky and slinging bowling action resembling the likes of the veteran Sri Lankan bowler Lasith Malinga, he has been touted as 'Baby Lasith Malinga'. 

During Match No. 62 of the tournament between the Chennai Super Kings and Gujarat Titans, the 19-year old medium pacer got an opportunity to showcase his talent with the ball. Thanks to his passion and skills with the ball, he was able to scalp two crucial wickets of the Gujarat Titans batters, Shubman Gill and Hardik Pandya, respectively. 

He showed his calibre from his first ball itself. During the 7th over, Pathirana was given the ball by MS Dhoni, and he didn't disappoint. Pathirana sent Shubman Gill back to the pavilion with his very first ball as he trapped the Indian opener right in front of the wickets.

It was some start to his IPL career as he took a wicket of the very first ball on his debut and became only the 9th bowler to achieve such a feat. 

In his second over, he got the wicket of the danger man, Hardik Pandya. However, a slower delivery completely foxed the GT skipper as he committed to the shot a touch too early and was caught at mid-off. 

The skipper of the Chennai Super Kings, Mahendra Singh Dhoni, had his say on the young bowler. He had stated, "I think Pathirana is an excellent death bowler. A bit similar to Malinga. With his action, the margin of error for him is quite big. With a slingy action, he doesn't get a lot of bounce. He has got that slower one as well. We will try to give guys ample time in the middle. I feel it's important to give guys who haven't got a chance to feature in the 11."

Though the debutant plucked two wickets in his first match, it wasn't enough to stop the rampant Gujarat Titans, as the Yellow army lost the match by seven wickets. This was CSK's ninth defeat out of the 13 games.