Matheesha Pathirana is a professional cricketer from Sri Lanka who presently plays limited-overs cricket for the national side. She was born on December 18th, 2002. Baby Malinga is a nickname that has been given to him since he modeled his bowling motion after Lasith Malinga’s clingy movement at the bowling crease. In the years leading up to his Twenty20 debut, he was a member of Sri Lanka’s team that competed in the Under-19 Cricket World Cup in 2020.
The announcement that he will be a part of Sri Lanka’s squad for the 2022 ICC Under-19 Cricket World Cup in the West Indies came in January of that year. As a part of the Chennai Super Kings side that triumphed in the Indian Premier League in 2023, he played a pivotal role. During the 2023 season of the Indian Premier League, he took 19 wickets. He broke the record for the youngest player from a foreign country to win an Indian Premier League title. The SLC Greys selected him to be a member of their side for the 2021 SLC Invitational T20 League in August 2021.
It was on August 22, 2021, that he made his debut in the Twenty20 league, playing for SLC Greys in the 2021 SLC Invitational T20 League. It was in April of 2022 that the Chennai Super Kings decided to recruit him as a replacement for Adam Milne for the 2022 Indian Premier League season. This was his first game, and it was against the Gujarat Titans. He was the first Sri Lankan and the ninth player overall to accomplish this milestone in the Indian Premier League (IPL). He claimed the wicket of Shubman Gill in the very first delivery of the match.
Matheesha Pathirana Biography
| Name | Matheesha Pathirana |
| Full Name | Matheesha Anushal Vihanga Pathirana Heenatigala Pathiranage |
| Date of Birth | 18 December 2002 |
| Place of Birth | Kandy, Sri Lanka |
| Other Names | Baby Malinga |
| Nationality | Sri Lankan |
| Father’s Name | Anura Pathirana |
| Mother’s Name | Mrs. Pathirana |
| Siblings | Vishuka |
| Spouse | NA |
| Marriage Date | NA |
| Children | NA |
| Role | Bowling |
| Batting | Right-handed |
| Bowling | Right arm Fast |
| ODI Debut | 2 June 2023 vs. Afghanistan |
| Test Debut | NA |
| Favourite Food | Kothu parotta and Chicken curry |
| Favourite Actor | NA |
| Favourite Actress | NA |
| Favourite Colour | Blue |
| Retirement | Still Playing |
The Kandy Falcons decided to sign him in July 2022 so that he may participate in the third season of the Lanka Premier League. Following CSK’s victory in the 2023 Indian Premier League, he became the youngest Overseas Player to ever win an IPL tournament. He was selected to be a member of Sri Lanka’s Twenty20 International (T20I) squad for the series that they were playing against Australia in May of 2022. As a result of an injury, he was unable to participate in the series, and he left the game early.
As of August 2022, he was selected to be a member of Sri Lanka’s Twenty20 International team for the Asia Cup. He played his first Twenty20 International match on August 27, 2022, against Afghanistan. The One Day International (ODI) and Twenty20 International (T20I) squads for the series against New Zealand were both announced to him in March of 2023. On June 2, 2023, he played his first one-day international match, which was against Afghanistan. In his first one-day international wicket, he took Rahmat Shah out of the game.
Sri Lanka Cricket announced their 15-player roster for the ICC One-Day International World Cup qualification in June of 2023. As part of their lineup, the national team decided to include Matheesha Pathirana. Pathirana’s match-winning bowling effort in the first Twenty20 International match against Afghanistan featured taking four wickets in the last over, bringing his total to four wickets and twenty-four runs. In the end, Sri Lanka prevailed in the match by a margin of four runs, and he was selected as the player of the match for his effort.
Batting & Fielding Stats
| YEAR | MAT | NO | RUNS | HS | AVG | BF | SR | 100 | 50 | 4S | 6S | CT | ST |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Career | 14 | 0 | 0 | 0 | – | – | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 5 | 0 | |
| 2023 | 12 | 0 | 0 | 0 | – | – | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 4 | 0 | |
| 2022 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | – | – | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 |
Bowling
| YEAR | MAT | BALLS | RUNS | WKTS | BBM | AVE | ECON | SR | 4W | 5W |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Career | 14 | 319 | 423 | 21 | 3/15 | 20.14 | 7.96 | 15.19 | 0 | 0 |
| 2023 | 12 | 278 | 371 | 19 | 3/15 | 19.53 | 8.01 | 14.63 | 0 | 0 |
| 2022 | 2 | 41 | 52 | 2 | 2/24 | 26.00 | 7.61 | 20.50 | 0 | 0 |
Several factors contributed to Shardul Thakur’s inability to secure a spot in the playing eleven for Chennai Super Kings. Instead, frontline pacers Tushar Deshpande, Deepak Chahar, and Mustafizur Rahman, who were in excellent form, have maintained their positions in the lineup. In the meanwhile, Pathirana took over for another Sri Lankan prodigy, Maheesh Theekshana, who did not have a very impressive performance in the first game of the competition, which was played against RCB.
Amila Kalugalage, the management of Matheesha Pathirana, has stated that the Sri Lankan bowler has arrived in Chennai and will soon be joining the Chennai Super Kings (CSK) side for the Indian Premier League 2024. Due to a hamstring injury that he sustained during the second Twenty20 International of the three-match series against Bangladesh, Pathirana was unable to participate in the first few matches for Chennai Super Kings (CSK). This included the season opener against Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) on Friday in Chennai.
