Matheesha Pathirana - a raw gem that CSK are honing into a champion

It’s El Clasico day in the IPL - the Chennai Super Kings (CSK) and the Mumbai Indians (MI) have convened at the Chepauk to resume their storied rivalry. There are stars galore on both sides but there is massive hype around a bowler with a quirky action.

The bowler in question does not bowl how bowlers have ordinarily been bowling over the years. He loads up and almost hurls it at the batters' side-arm. He is from Sri Lanka, and whenever he has played, he has been able to crank up the pace and deliver yorkers with devilish accuracy.

If you thought this was a prelude to one of those CSK-MI games in the 2010s, when Lasith Malinga was the talk of the town, combining an unorthodox action with unnerving accuracy, well, you are slightly off the mark.

This bowler looks exactly like Malinga (not cosmetically, of course) when he delivers the ball. If anything, he is even more side-arm than his great compatriot. But what is most important, is that he is doing special things that Malinga did for as long as you can remember.

Let’s go back to last season, and the time when Matheesha Pathirana was acquired as an injury replacement. Back then, there was the odd murmur about his resemblance to Malinga, especially after he bowled a few sizzling spells in the U-19 World Cup. Largely, though, it felt that he was too raw and that he would not survive in the unforgiving IPL environment.

He only played a couple of games in 2022 – that too after CSK were out of contention for the playoffs. In his very first outing, he rushed Shubman Gill for pace and outwitted him. He picked up another wicket that season but it is in 2023 that Pathirana has truly sparked to life.

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Pathirana has been brilliant under pressure for CSK

The most impressive bit, though, is not that he has bowled superbly. Rather, it is about how he is handling the pressure situations and how MS Dhoni has found himself trusting a 20-year-old to operate primarily in the death overs.

Against MI, he bowled the 13th, the 15th, the 18th, and the 20th over. Pathirana only conceded 15 runs in total, also picking up three wickets. This, by the way, comes just a week after he nearly defended nine runs in the final over against the Punjab Kings.

A few moons earlier, he had produced an equally brilliant display to deny the Royal Challengers Bangalore at the death. Pathirana was tough to get away in the rain-curtailed game against the Lucknow Super Giants and even when he went for a few against the Rajasthan Royals, he earned the praise of his skipper, who explicitly mentioned that the bowling figures did not do justice to how well Pathirana had bowled.

Pathirana has bowled 80 balls in the death overs in IPL 2023, giving away only 104 runs at an economy rate of 7.6. He has also picked up 10 wickets in this phase - the best any bowler has managed this season. His economy rate, meanwhile, is also head and shoulders above everyone else to have bowled a minimum of 50 balls in IPL 2023.

So, there you have it. This is a 20-year-old, being the bank that Dhoni and CSK needed at the death. What makes this entire sequence crazier is how CSK actually stumbled upon him.

Remember, he was an injury replacement in 2022. And while he might have been on the franchise’s radar prior to it, they opted against signing him at the auction.

After all, he was this Sri Lankan wildcard who had barely featured for his country. A fast bowler with quirky and weird action, who did evoke comparisons with a very similar bowler to have donned the Sri Lankan blue, but someone who was still very much a greenhorn.

But here he is now, bowling the overs that matter for CSK, and doing so with utter distinction. All while showing the sort of composure and conviction associated with seasoned pros.

This is as much a fairy tale story for CSK as it is for Pathirana. CSK must be credited for placing so much faith in a youngster not many knew before 2022. Pathirana, though, must be lauded for how he has grown into his role and filled the massive void Dwayne Bravo left prior to this campaign.

When representing CSK, that is the most assertive stamp of approval any bowler can ever get. Pathirana has done that - at 20 years of age and in just his second IPL season.

No need to look just at the action and think he is different anymore. He is different because he is special. Unlike most at this age, and perhaps unlike any, the IPL has seen all these years.