9 Bowlers Who Took A Wicket On The First Ball Of Their IPL Career

Bowling for Chennai Super Kings, the first glimpse of Matheesha Pathirana in the IPL became a historic moment as the 19-year-old Sri Lankan became only the ninth bowler in the history of the IPL to take a wicket on his first ball on debut.

The youngster is nicknamed ‘Baby Malinga’ because his bowling action is similar – roundarm, slingy, unorthodox – to the former Sri Lankan and Mumbai Indians legend.

On his first ball in the IPL, Pathirana dismissed Gujarat Titans opener Shubman Gill, trapping the opener lbw with a full ball, in the same style that Malinga dismissed so many batters. Next, he completely deceived Titans’ skipper Hardik Pandya with a slower delivery into the pitch which Pandya had no clue about and top-edged it to mid-off.

Pathirana had been with the Chennai Super Kings as a net bowlers and then was later roped in for the squad as a replacement for the New Zealand fast bowler Adam Milne.

List of bowlers to take a wicket on their first ball in the IPL:

Before Pathirana, 8 bowlers had taken a wicket on their first ball in the IPL. In the first edition in 2008, it was Ishant Sharma, playing for Kolkata Knight Riders who dismissed the great Rahul Dravid, who was batting for the Royal Challengers Bangalore.

Alzarri Joseph was the last one, until Pathirana, when he made his debut for Mumbai Indians in IPL 2019 and got rid of Sunrisers Hyderabad’s David Warner.

Here’s the complete list of bowlers who took a wicket on the first ball of their IPL career: