Matheesha Pathirana Wiki, Height, Age, Girlfriend, Family, Biography & More

Matheesha Pathirana is a Sri Lankan cricketer who primarily plays for the Sri Lankan national cricket team as a bowler. A right-hand batsman and a right-arm fast bowler, Matheesha is a death-over specialist.

Wiki/Biography

Matheesha Pathirana was born on Wednesday, 18 December 2002 (age 20 years; as of 2022) in Kandy, Sri Lanka. His zodiac sign is Sagittarius.

His family has its roots in Harispathuwa, Sri Lanka. Matheesha Pathirana began playing cricket at home when he was a toddler. In an interview, while talking about Pathirana’s passion for cricket, his father Anura said,

He regularly waited for me to come home after work to play. He used to give me a bat or a ball and ask me to play with him and I was only too happy to play with him.”

Matheesha did his primary schooling at Ranabima Royal College, where he began playing cricket for the school’s cricket team. Pathirana was also inclined towards music from a young age and appeared in music examinations up to class six. While studying at school, Matheesha also got involved in baseball, which helped him to develop his bowling action. Initially, Pathirana used to play for his school team, both as a batter and as a bowler. His school coach saw the potential in him and asked his father to enrol him at a cricket academy. Once, while playing for his school’s cricket team, Matheesha bagged an opportunity to play for the Kandy district school team and attracted the attention of upcountry cricket fans. Soon, his father enrolled him at the Kettarama fast bowling academy, where he was trained by Chamila Gamage and a few other cricket coaches. While he was undergoing training at Kettarama, Sri Lanka, Chaminda Vaas, Sri Lankan fast bowling coach, met Matheesha’s father and asked him to enrol Matheesha in a Colombo school to sharpen his cricketing skills. However, his father did not entertain the idea of sending Matheesha to Colombo, away from his family. He, however, made several attempts to enrol him at St. Anthony’s College, Katugastota, but failed. Meanwhile, Trinity College, Kandy, invited Pathirana to join their school. He appeared for the GCE OL and later joined the school. At the school, he was a part of his school’s Under 17 cricket team.

Soon, he bagged an opportunity to represent the Sri Lanka under-19 cricket team while he was still in school. Despite being included in various domestic teams and playing in the international arena for Sri Lanka’s national cricket team, Matheesha kept representing his school (Trinity College) at various school-level cricket tournaments for long.

His family lives in Katugastota.

Physical Appearance

Height (approx.): 6′ 2″

Hair Colour: Black

Eye Colour: Black

Family

Matheesha Pathirana belongs to a middle-class family with an interest in music.

Parents & Siblings

His father, Anura Pathirana, is a businessman. Anura played guitar for a music band in his youth. Matheesha’s mother was also a rhythm guitarist in the ‘Salalihiniyo’ band. He has two elder sisters, Vishuka Pathirana and Tharindi Pathirana. Vishuka is an accomplished piano player and Tharindi is a guitarist. Vishuka Pathirana is married to Ryan Pathirana.

Religion/Religious Views

Matheesha Pathirana follows Buddhism. In an interview, while talking about his family’s religion, Matheesha’s father said,

My son is a devoted Buddhist who attended Daham Pasal in his childhood. As a family we observe Sil and participate in most religious programs held in our village temple. I think religion helps to develop a person’s mind. You may be a Buddhist, Christian, Islamic or anything else but if you follow the teachings of the leader of your religion it will help you to face life’s journey,”

Cricket

Domestic

Matheesha Pathirana was included in the SLC Greys’ squad for the 2021 SLC Invitational T20 League in August 2021. On 22 August  2021, he made his T20 debut for SLC Greys in the 2021 SLC Invitational T20 League.

He has also played several matches for Nondescripts Cricket Club.

International

Under-19

In 2020, Matheesha was a part of Sri Lanka’s squad for the 2020 Under-19 Cricket World Cup. On 19 January 2020, during a match between India and Sri Lanka at Mangaung Oval, Bloemfontein, South Africa, Matheesha astonished the cricket fraternity by making a delivery to Yashasvi Jaiswal at 175kph (108 mph) which went for a wide in the fourth over of the Indian innings, making it the fastest recorded ball ever bowled in international cricket – across all levels. He surpassed Pakistan’s speed gun Shoaib Akhtar’s record of fastest delivery of 161.3kph (100mph) which he registered during an ODI against England during the 2003 World Cup. However, it later turned out that there was a technical glitch in the recording and it was not a 175kph ball delivery. The match was won by India by 90 runs.

T20

In May 2022, Pathirana was named in the Sri Lankan squad for Sri Lanka’s Twenty20 series against Australia. However, he was later ruled out of the series due to an injury. In August 2022, Matheesha was named in Sri Lanka’s T20I squad for the 2022 Asia Cup. On 27 August 2022, he made his T20 International debut for Sri Lanka against Afghanistan at Dubai (DSC). In March 2023, Matheesha Pathirana was named in Sri Lanka’s T20 International squad for its T20I series against New Zealand.

One Day International (ODI)

In March 2023, Matheesha Pathirana was named in Sri Lanka’s One Day International squad for its ODI series against New Zealand.

Franchise Cricket

Indian Premier League (IPL)

In April 2022, Chennai Super Kings signed him for the 2022 Indian Premier League for Rs. 20 lakhs. He was included in the team as a replacement for the New Zealand cricketer Adam Milne. On 15 May 2022, he made his IPL debut for Chennai Super Kings against Gujarat Titans. Introduced to bowling in the eighth over of the match, Matheesha dismissed Shubman Gill in his very first ball, becoming the first Sri Lankan player and ninth player in the world to achieve the feat in Indian Premier League. In his second over of the match, Matheesha deceived Hardik Pandya with a slower ball to capture his wicket. He bowled 3.1 overs in the match and conceded 24 runs.

He was retained by Chennai Super Kings at his base price of Rs. 20 lakhs for the Indian Premier League season 2023. In April 2023, during an IPL match between Chennai Super Kings and Rajasthan Royals, CSK skipper MS Dhoni lost his cool at Matheesha Pathirana and gave him a death stare after Pathirana intercepted Dhoni’s direct-hit attempt at the stumps.

During the 2023 IPL, he became very popular for his bowling action and earned the title “Baby Malinga.”

Lanka Premier League (LPL)

In 2022, Matheesha Pathirana represented the Kandy Warriors (now Falcons) at the third edition of the Lanka Premier League.

T10 League (Abu Dhabi T10)

Matheesha Pathirana has represented Bangla Tigers in seasons 2021 and 2022 of the T10 League or Abu Dhabi T10.

International League T20 (ILT20)

Matheesha Pathirana played for Desert Vipers in the first edition of DP World ILT20. He took three wickets (in 4 innings) after delivering 90 balls (with 0 Maiden overs), attaining a strike rate of 30 and an average of 50.66.

Facts/Trivia

• Matheesha Pathirana loves travelling and listening to music in his leisure time.

• He is fond of eating Pizzas.

• Besides cricket, Matheesha is good at playing the piano and singing.

• With his slinging action reminiscent of Lasith Malinga, Pathirana is often referred to as Baby Malinga, Podi (little) Malinga, Mini Mali, and Next Malinga in the cricket fraternity. He is also fondly called the Little Slings by his friends and family.

• In an interview, when asked about similarities in Matheesha’s bowling action with that of Lasith Malinga, his father averred that Pathirana’s bowling action wasn’t due to Malinga. He said,
  

  We heard that his bowling action is similar to that of Malinga’s. But he has not copied it. He used to bowl like that when he started to play cricket. Rigorous training helped him improve his bowling skills.”

• He is very particular about his fitness and follows a strict workout regimen.

  Matheesha Pathirana at a gym

• Matheesha Pathirana is sponsored by GA Sports Meerut.

• Matheesha’s jersey number for Bangla Tigers is 81 and 99. His jersey number for Dessert Vipers and Chennai Super Kings is 81. His jersey number for Sri Lanka’s national cricket team is 99.

  Matheesha Pathirana’s jersey numbers

• Apparently, in 2021, Mahendra Singh Dhoni came across a viral bowling video of Matheesha Pathirana which piqued Dhoni’s interest in Matheesha; the video was from a school tournament in which Matheesha represented Trinity College against (Sanath) Jayasuriya’s school. Sensing the potential in him, Dhoni went out of his way to have him in the IPL reserves. Dhoni wrote a letter to Pathirana, asking him to join Chennai Super Kings in UAE. However, the deal didn’t eventuate as Sri Lanka Cricket didn’t issue a NOC at that time.

• An avid animal lover, Matheesha has shared several pictures with cats on his Instagram account.

  Matheesha Pathirana with a cat