Meet Matheesha Pathirana, CSK's new recruit in IPL 2022 who is dubbed new Lasith Malinga

Matheesha Pathirana came into the spotlight when he bowled an incredible 175 kmph delivery to India’s Yashasvi Jaiswal, during the ICC U-19 World Cup in 2020 in South Africa. While he became a huge talking point at the time, it was later revealed that the figure was misquoted due to a glitch in the review system. 

(Image credits: WhistlePodu Army, CSK Fanclub, Twitter)

The 19-year-old has been a reserve bowler for CSK since 2020, but after the ongoing injury crisis, with Deepak Chahar also ruled out for the season, CSK drafted Pathirana into their first team, for his base price of INR 20 lakh. 

(Image credits: Chennai Super Kings, Twitter)

Pathirana, who played for Sri Lanka in the U19 World in 2022, and before this, in 2020 as well, has the ability to bowl toe-crunching yorkers, due to which he has often been dubbed as the next Lasith Malinga. In the recent U-19 World Cup, the youngster picked up 7 wickets in four games at an economy of 6.16.

(Image Credits: Twitter)

Born on December 18, 2002, Matheesha Pathirana has been with CSK for quite a while now. He made his T20 debut in the 2021 SLC Invitational T20 league. After impressing with the Sri Lanka U-19 side, a young Pathirana and Maheesh Theekshana were picked up by Chennai Super Kings. 

(Image credits: Twitter)

Despite the injury to Deepak Chahar, CSK opted against naming a replacement for the Indian pacer, while Matheesha Pathirana becomes the franchise's first replacement player for IPL 2022, after Adam Milne was ruled out for the season following a hamstring injury he sustained earlier this term. It will be interesting to see whether the young Sri Lanka lad can feature in a couple of games for CSK.