Former Sri Lanka fast bowler Lasith Malinga has one of the best bowlers of the modern-day cricket. Recently, another young pacer Matheesha Pathirana brought back memories of Malinga in the going U-19 Asia Cup game between Sri Lanka and Kuwait at the Sharjah Cricket Stadium on Thursday.
Pathirana, who first shot limelight during the last U-19 ICC World Cup, once again gave some glimpses of Malinga’s lethal yorkers during a game against Kuwait. The 19-year old Matheesha Pathirana produced some lethal bouncers and yorkers as Sri Lanka floored Kuwait by 274 runs. He returned with figures of 7/2 in three overs.
Watch the video here:
Sri Lanka gets a new Slinga-Malinga
Meet Matheesha Pathirana, who produced some lanky bouncers and yorkers vs Kuwait U-19. Lankan Lions romped to a 274 run-victory. He finished with figures 7-2 in 3 overs.#U19AsiaCup #SharjahCricketStadiumcourtesy – @sharjahstadium pic.twitter.com/EStUotZtOn
— ANURAG ॐ SHARMA 🇮🇳 (@7ANURAGSHARMA) December 23, 2021
Incidentally, batting first, Sri Lanka had romped up 323 runs for 5 wickets in the match. Chamindu Wickramasinghe and Shevon Daniel put on a 91-runs stand for the first wicket to set the platform. Sadisha Rajapaksa helped keep up the early momentum scoring 35 runs in 37 balls before Pawan Pathiraja and Ranuda Somarathne added 114 runs stand for the fourth wicket. Pathiraja was the top scorer with a knock of 86 runs which came in 72 balls (11x4s). Somarathne, who remained unbeaten on 60 cracked four fours and a six.
In reply, Kuwait’s entire team was all out for a mere 49 runs. Captain Meet Bhavsar and Jude Saldanha who opened batting were the only batsmen to reach double figures as the team was bowled out in the 18th over.
Did Matheesha Pathirana delivered 175kph ball?
Pathirana made headlines when he delivered the fastest ball of the ICC U-19 World Cup. He bowled a 175 kmph thunderbolt to Yashasvi Jaiswal in a game against India Under-19. It was revealed that the reading turned out to be a technical error.
However, Matheesha Pathirana is known for making heads turn with good pace in Sri Lanka’s domestic circuit and is one for the future.
