Ever since he burst onto the scene as a teenager, Matheesha Pathirana has a slingy armed action which has been one of the talking points about his bowling as his action resembled that to the legendary Sri Lankan pacer Lasith Malinga.
He was given nicknames like junior Maling, or as CSK fans call him ‘Baby Maling’ because his action is akin to that of Lasith Malinga.
It was always assumed by the fans that Matheesha Pathirana saw Lasith Malinga bowl with a unique action and then took it in his stride to mold his action similar to the veteran.
However, Matheesha Pathirana’s childhood coach Bilal Fassy recently revealed that the youngster didn’t really copy Malinga’s action, but that came naturally to him as it did to Malinga himself. Bilal Fassy said that Pathirana had this action from the day he started bowling under him.
“Seeing his action, a lot of people think that he has modelled it after seeing Malinga. Pathirana also trained under Malinga. But he came to me with this action from day one, and we just worked on it a bit, considering it can put a lot of stress on his young body,” Fassy told PTI.
Matheesha Pathirana registers career-best ODI figures in Asia Cup
Matheesha Pathirana had a breakthrough season in the IPL earlier this year. He became an IPL champion with CSK and had a big role to play: trying to fill the big shoes of Dwayne Bravo, Pathirana picked 19 wickets in 12 matches. His high pace, yorkers, and slower ball – all of which were trademarks of Malinga – were delivered brilliantly.
“He (Pathirana) was naturally quick. He did not have to put in a lot of effort to get pace unlike some other boys. On top of it, he was very accurate too as you might have seen while he was bowling in the IPL. He has a fast and accurate yorker that can trouble even the best. His arm speed is just outstanding,” Bilal Fassy added.
Matheesha Pathirana recorded his career-best ODI figures in his first match in the Asia Cup 2023, taking 4/32 against Bangladesh in Pallekele.
