Sri Lanka youngster Matheesha Pathirana, who is viewed as the new Lasith Malinga because of his bowling action, has been signed by Chennai Super Kings (CSK) as a replacement for New Zealand pacer Adam Milne for the remaining matches of IPL 2022.
The New Zealand pacer was ruled out of the tournament after suffering a hamstring injury in CSK’s first match against Kolkata Knight Riders.
His replacement, Pathirana, is a young 19-year-old medium-pacer from Sri Lanka who was part of Sri Lanka’s U19 World Cup squads in 2020 and 2022. He will be paid INR 20 lakh.
Pathirana will join senior Sri Lankan player Maheesh Theekshana at the CSK camp. The defending champions have won just one game out of six in the 15th season of the tournament.