Sri Lanka's young fast bowler and popularly known as Baby Malinga, Matheesha Pathirana made his IPL debut in 2022 for Chennai Super Kings and since then he has been performing well for the same franchise. Due to this good performance, he made his international debut. At the same time, 21-year-old young fast bowler Pathirana has now praised Chennai and their captain MS Dhoni for the change in his career.

Pathirana said, “After my Under-19, I was not in any Sri Lankan team. But since my debut for CSK, I got those opportunities and was selected for the main Sri Lankan team. Playing for CSK is a gift from God for me. Until I played for CSK, not many people knew me. Sharing the dressing room with Mahi bhai is very special for youngsters like me, especially coming from Sri Lanka.”

Now, regarding the T20 International series against India, Pathirana said, “I think it will be a good challenge. India is coming with a new coach and some new players; their combination will be slightly different but it will be a good challenge for us because they are the world champions. We have a very good team and a lot of talent and ability. Unfortunately, we did not perform well in the T20 World Cup. But if we can win this series, it will be a confidence booster for the next three years.”

Talking about Pathirana's T20 International career, he has represented Sri Lanka in 9 matches and has taken 14 wickets with the help of an economy rate of 8.06. Talking about his IPL career, he has taken 34 wickets in 20 matches played for CSK with the help of an economy rate of 7.88.

Let us tell you that Sri Lanka will play 3-3 matches T20 International and ODI series against India at home. The series will start with a T20 International match on 27 July. The second match will be played on 28 July, the third and last match on 30 July. After this, the ODI series will start from 2 August. After this, the second and third ODIs will be played on 4 and 7 July respectively.