From Kandy
Matheesha Pathirana, the Sri Lanka fast bowler, could be forgiven if he believed his stars were not aligned while playing for his country. Just a year ago, in the Asia Cup, his opening over in his maiden T20I went for 16 runs. A year later, when Pathirana won his maiden one-day international cap, he was expensive in his first two overs, conceding 20.
However, it seemed like a matter of time before the gift-wrapped cricketer would break the barrier and make a significant contribution to Sri Lankan cricket. Pathirana certainly did that in Sri Lanka’s Asia Cup 2023 game against Bangladesh by taking a four-for.
So, what makes Pathirana a lethal bowler? The obvious answer would be his unique skill-sets. The release point in his slingy action is low, lower than even Lasith Malinga’s. So, the batter is always searching for cues in order to pick the length early. Pathirana also seems to hit the seam regularly, alongside extracting some awkward bounce.
We could see some evidence of Pathirana’s potential at Pallekele. In the 11th over of Bangladesh’s innings, Shakib Al Hasan tried to nail the square-cut, but he couldn’t control the stroke as he was done in by the extra lift. With the pitch offering variable bounce, Pathirana continued to give a few headaches to the Bangladesh batters by pounding it hard.
Soon, he accounted for the scalp of Mushfiqur Rahim, with the ‘keeper-batter ramping one to third man. In fact, Pathirana could have sent Rahim back to the hut in the previous over itself but Sri Lanka didn’t opt for the review. Subsequently, the Ultra-Edge showed a spike. Once again, it was a relatively shorter length delivery that had caused issues to the batter.
On a two-paced-deck, Pathirana also employed pace-off deliveries, including the dipping slower ones to run through the lower order. It goes back to the old maxim that if there is something in it for the spinners, then the pace bowlers too can take advantage of it. Just that when the track is staying relatively low, it is better to zoom a substantial portion of your deliveries on the stumps. Pathirana’s bowling smarts also give an indicator that he is a very quick learner.
Chris Silverwood, the Sri Lanka head coach, showered praises on Pathirana in the post-match press conference. “He’s had a great experience at the IPL and then he came to the World Cup qualifier with us, and we did a lot of work on how to bowl with the new ball,” said Silverwood. “It wasn’t to do with his action so much. It was more to do with his run-up. We just gave him more access to the stumps and we found he got more control through that.
“He absorbs information very quickly, and he’s very quickly able to apply that to his game. He does it his way. It won’t be long till he’s got the new ball in his hand.”
Whenever Pathirana’s name comes up for discussion, it is inevitable that Malinga too gets mentioned. So much so that Malinga had once said to Pathirana at a national selection camp, “You bowl like me.”
It is true that Pathirana is still quite raw and doesn’t have the exemplary control of Malinga when it comes to landing the toe-crushers. Pathirana’s arm-speed also seems to be a tad slower. Unlike Malinga, he doesn’t seem to get outswing. But there is one point where Pathirana seems to score over his illustrious predecessor, and that is extracting some bounce.
For starters, Pathirana is taller than Malinga. He also seems to hit the seam more often of the two. So, Pathirana could be a 3-D player for Sri Lanka: Hit-the-deck skills, yorkers and bounce.
More importantly, just like Malinga, Pathirana seems to have the right kind of temperament to succeed. The story goes that while playing at the Under-19 Provincial level, he was smashed to all corners of the ground in his first over, giving away 23 runs. He took that setback in his stride and went on to represent Sri Lanka Under-19s, before achieving success at a higher level. By the looks of it, he is set to scale many more peaks.
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