Nowadays, the spotlight is on Matheesha Pathirana’s slingy action and exploits under the bright lights of the Indian Premier League. Quite a few batters are finding it difficult to pick up Pathirana’s action, as he releases the ball from almost near his right ear. Thousands of words are being penned comparing the young prodigy with Lasith Malinga. The video of him dismissing batters with yorkers while playing for Trinity College in Kandy has gone viral across social-media platforms. That video also attracted the attention of MS Dhoni and the Chennai Super Kings camp, and they soon recruited him into the set-up. But what is the story behind Pathirana’s rise? How did he start to bowl with such a unique action?
Pathirana bowling with a slingy action can’t be put down to anything other than destiny. During his childhood days, his potential was basically hidden in a coded language. And for that coded language to be deciphered, all it needed was a bunch of stones on a rooftop.
“He was on the rooftop,” Vishuka Pathirana, his sister, tells Revsportz. “He wasn’t actually playing cricket, he was just dropping stones. He used to throw those stones into neighbouring houses. Because the stones were thrown fast most of the time, they broke glass panes in those houses. We had many complaints. Actually, one day, one of the glass panes in our neighbour’s house was broken. So that day, father thought that he must play cricket as he saw some potential.”
Just a mere glance at Pathirana’s bowling style, and it might seem that he must have idolised Malinga and tried to imitate his action. After all, very few bowlers, or none in the current cricketing landscape, sling it with such a round-arm action. But the reality is something else. “When he went to primary school, he didn’t have cricket,” says his sister. “So our father told him to study and go to a school where there is cricket. Due to that reason, he had to study really well and move into a secondary school, where he could play cricket.
“At that secondary school, he started playing cricket at the age of 13. Because he wasn’t that serious, he didn’t really have any guidance to bowl like Malinga. It came naturally to him. And people were saying, ‘You’re bowling like this Malinga’. That was how he got to know his bowling action is really unique. And later with time, he watched the videos of Malinga, went through the videos.”
Vishuka adds, however, that Pathirana doesn’t want to be looked upon as a carbon copy of Malinga. He would rather create a “unique identity” for himself.
Some years later, Pathirana got the opportunity to meet Malinga himself in a fast bowling camp. The pace ace had nothing but words of encouragement for the young bowler. “Before going to the Trinity college, we sent him to national selections, and the first net he bowled, he was not selected,” says Amila Pinnaduwa, his childhood coach. “After one or two months, we sent him again. At that time, fortunately, Malinga was bowling in the other net. After he bowled… Malinga had seen him, and said, ‘Well, you’re bowling like me’. That time, Malinga was impressed with his action, and the selectors were also impressed. After that, he was selected to the fast-bowling pool.”
Not surprisingly, Pinnaduwa had noticed some similarities between Malinga and his protégé, and took him under his wing. He and others set about rectifying a few flaws to help him improve his control and run-up. Pathirana also had the chance to play competitive games, and just like any other bowler, he had his share of disappointments. But he showed the resilience to overcome those tricky phases.
“In one of the provincial matches in the Under-19 age group, he said that he couldn’t complete the over, because he gave away 23 runs with 12 wides,” says his sister. “So that is one of the memories he says that he will never forget. He came out of that match in tears, thinking that he would never get the chance to play cricket again. It encouraged him to practice more and to get to the point where he is now.”
Pathirana was destined to progress through the junior ranks. He went on to play a couple of Under-19 World Cups and spearheaded his country’s pace attack in the 2022 edition of the tournament, where he finished with seven scalps. The quintessence of his performance in that World Cup was once again batters struggling to pick the length early, evidenced by Pathirana getting four of his wickets either bowled or LBW. His big breakthrough, however, came when Chennai drafted him into their squad after Adam Milne was ruled out with an injury in 2022. Pathirana was already a net bowler for Chennai, and his inclusion in the main squad seemed like a natural progression
With his first ball in the IPL, Pathirana dislodged Shubman Gill with a yorker and followed it up by deceiving the in-form Hardik Pandya with the slower one. Even in the ongoing edition, he has made quite an impression. In his first game of the season, he was entrusted with the job of bowling in the slog overs on a flat pitch against Royal Challengers Bangalore. With a mixture of slower-into-the-pitch deliveries and yorkers, he kept the home side down to 10 runs in the last over. Pathirana’s competitive spirit and intent glowed brightly that night in Bengaluru.
It is true that the word aggression is generally associated with a fast bowler’s mental make-up. But there is more to it than just gestures or swearing at the batter. Eric Simons, Chennai’s bowling consultant, who has observed Pathirana from close quarters, said, “Aggression is not always what you see from the outside, but also a lot about a determination and desire for battle which could be mostly, if not all, internal.
“As a coach, I can recognise it from conversations and getting to know a bowler better. He has this in bucketloads, but I do not think you will see him demonstrate this with verbals or external signs. I am the one catching with the glove to monitor the seam position, and it is obvious even in this drill to see why it is more difficult for batsmen facing his slinging action.”
The Chennai coaching staff also worked on various aspects of his game – both technical and tactical. “We focused on three areas: His seam position, his accuracy of execution and match tactics,” said Simons. “We worked a lot on his seam position, even within his unique action, with drills into a baseball glove using a red and white ball. He was enthusiastic about this, as I sensed it was not something he has really been conscious about before. He enjoyed the work. As he did this more and more, his accuracy also improved which was a second key focus.
“All our bowling reviews, practice and match, are based purely on execution of the tactic and not the outcome of the delivery in the battle with the batter. We focus purely on the target and only assess the outcome based on the accuracy of the execution. This focus builds greater accuracy, and then gives the bowler greater understanding of which balls he is proficient at. Importantly, it gives him greater confidence going into a match, and also greater insight into what tactics a bowler can deliver on, for us to build his game plan. Then we worked on that plan. Tactical conversations about using his accurate deliveries, his unique action and how to bowl in different phases. For example, how to use tactics and field placings to disrupt a partnership that is building momentum.”
The way Pathirana excelled in the final over against Bangalore, amid the cacophony of sounds at the Chinnaswamy, gave an inkling that he loves the big stage. He was perhaps destined to play in such modern-day colosseums, a world removed from throwing stones at his neighbours’ houses.