Matheesha Pathirana (Twitter)
Sri Lankan pace sensation Matheesha Pathirana has been spotted honing his batting skills in the nets, highlighting his intentions to develop into an all-rounder before the IPL 2025 mega auction.
Pathirana burst onto the scene during the 2022 U-19 World Cup, and quickly became a vital part of the Chennai Super Kings bowling lineup. From being a replacement player in 2022, he has evolved into a strike bowler for CSK, picking 34 wickets from just 20 matches.
The video of Pathirana’s batting practice session showed him hitting some impressive shots, with the help of a throw-down specialist.
🔊 pic.twitter.com/W6GhuRek4Z
— Matheesha Pathirana (@matheesha_81) September 20, 2024
Also Read: Dunith Wellalage and Harshitha Samarawickrama announced August ICC Players of the Month
Matheesha Pathirana recovering from shoulder injury
The Kandy-born is currently recovering from a shoulder injury that ruled him out of the ODI series against India in August. This setback occurred after an impressive showing in the T20I series against the same opposition, where he claimed five wickets in two games. Interestingly, in the third T20I against the Men in Blue, Pathirana did not bowl a single over in the innings.
He hurt his right shoulder while stopping a ball in the seventh over and walked off the field. Though he returned towards the end of the innings to field, he did not bowl. The injury, a recurrence issue since the previous ODI World Cup, kept him away from the series to carefully manage his workload.