Sri Lanka call up IPL star Pathirana for Afghan series

AFP: Sri Lanka called up Indian Premier League winner Matheesha Pathirana on Tuesday into the 16-member ODI squad for the upcoming three-match home series against Afghanistan.

If he is included in the final team, it will be the 20-year-old Pathirana’s debut for Sri Lanka in a one-day international.

Pathirana, nicknamed “Baby Malinga” for his slingshot action similar to Sri Lanka great Lasith Malinga, has played two T20s for his country.

All three matches on June 2, 4 and 7 will be played at Hambantota in the island’s south, which has not hosted any international matches since February 2020.

Pathirana was a key player in the Chennai Super Kings team that won the IPL finals in Ahmedabad on Monday for a record-equalling fifth time.

With a vicious yorker he took two for 44 in the game and grabbed an impressive 19 wickets in the tournament. Chennai skipper M. S. Dhoni called him “special”.