HIGHLIGHTS
• Matheesha Pathirana is a 17-year-old Sri Lankan bowler whose action is similar to that of Lasith Malinga
• Pathirana impressed with his pinpoint yorkers picking up 6 wickets for Trinity College
• Malinga recently retired from ODIs but continues to play T20Is for Sri Lanka
There is no doubt that Lasith Malinga is one of the all-time greats of limited-overs cricket. Having retired from ODIs in July 2019, the 36-year-old gave everyone ample proof of his greatness by picking 4 wickets in 4 balls in a T20I against New Zealand on September 6. No doubt, the bowler has inspired many young turks with his slinging bowling action, funky hairstyles and the hunger for wickets.
In a video which has recently surfaced on the internet, it is claimed that a 17-year-old Sri Lankan pacer, who seems inspired by the great man, took 6 wickets for just 7 runs in a college game. Playing for Trinity College, Kandy, Matheesha Pathirana can be seen bowling deadly yorkers to fox the batsmen.
Here's the video:
In the video, it is evident that Pathirana bowls with a similar slinging arm like Malinga's. Also, his pinpoint yorkers rattling the stumps are quite reminiscent of Malinga disturbing the furniture behind the batsmen quite often in his heyday.
It is also surprising that Pathirana is doing this in his debut match for Trinity College. If the young pacer can continue like this, it shouldn't be a surprise that he could be seen in the Lankan colours in the very near future.
Earlier this year, Malinga finished as the 3rd highest wicket-taker in ODI cricket for Sri Lanka with 338 wickets in 220 innings with only Muttiah Muralitharan (523) and Chaminda Vaas (399) above him on the list.
Between 2006 and 2013, no other bowler took more wickets than Malinga's 267, this despite him missing 15 months of action in 2008-09 owing to knee troubles.
Malinga also finished as the team's highest wicket-taker during the recently concluded World Cup 2019 where he took 13 scalps in 7 innings. Malinga is also the only bowler to have taken 2 World Cup hat-tricks (2007 vs South Africa, 2011 vs Kenya). He had already retired from Test in 2011.