Former New Zealand cricketer Scott Styris believes Chennai Super Kings youngster Matheesha Pathirana can be better than Sri Lanka’s cricketing legend Lasitha Malinga in his cricketing career and interestingly the 20-year-old trained under Malinga to polish his cricket skills.
Matheesha Pathirana has been the trusted overseas pacer for the MS Dhoni-led side in the edition of the Indian Premier League. He has produced some sensational performances for the four-time champions in the league stage bowling tough death overs for them.
Cricketer-turned-commentator Scott Styris believes that Pathirana can do better than Malinga, admitting that he is taking a massive call on his statement though it’s still early days for the youngster.
Styris said that the former Mumbai Indian was accurate in line and length, whereas Pathirana has that extra pace to rattle the batters, which could prove to be a lethal weapon for the youngster.
“I think Pathirana could be better than Malinga. I accept that it’s a massive call because he’s too early in his career. He’s not as accurate as Malinga yet, but Malinga was at his best when he was bowling at 145kph. And he only had about 3 or 4 years where that was the case.
“When he had that speed, and then the change-ups came, you had to respect that pace. When his top speed was down to 135, you could probably look at the slower ball more and react to the Yorkers,” Scott Styris said.
The Sri Lankan pacer has grown strength to strength in the last 12 months playing for his country and franchise leagues around the globe. Sri Lanka fast bowler Matheesha Pathirana, also known as ‘Baby Malinga’, made the headlines during the Under-19 World Cup.
Matheesha Pathirana Is Exciting Talent For Sri Lanka And Chennai Super Kings – Scott Styris
Scott Styris believes that Pathirana’s pace can be a natural advantage for the pacer, as he can mix up the deliveries in the final overs and bowl according to batters in the opposition team and reckons that he will evolve with the few years of experience and asserted that he can great asset to Chennai Super Kings and Sri Lanka.
“What we’ve seen with Pathirana is that he’s bowling at 145, 146, 148kph, so he has that natural advantage. He hits the Yorkers pretty well. As he naturally evolves and gets more experience, he can hit those Yorkers with that action as much as Malinga, but with a quicker speed and the ability for change-ups. He’s the exciting talent for Sri Lanka, and exciting talent for CSK,” Scott Styris added.
The youngster is having a good season with the ball for Chennai Super Kings picking up seven wickets in six games at economy at 8.27 bowling the tough end overs for the four-time champions. MS Dhoni-led will take on their arch-rivals Mumbai Indians in the next game on May 6 in the famous MA Chidambaram Stadium.