Following his side's loss to England in the first T20I, Sri Lankan pacer Matheesha Pathirana, who returned with figures of 1/18 in four overs while defending 115 runs in 15 overs, spoke on his long battle with injuries over last one and the half years and how legendary Lasith Malinga helped him out during this challenging phase.

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A Lone Bright Spot in Defeat

England chased down 115 runs in 15 overs in the rain-curtailed first T20I against England at Pallekele on Friday. A massive positive during this match for the Lankan Lions was how they kept England batters restrained during this chase on a batting-friendly surface. The initial target was 134 off 17 overs and was later cut down to 115 in 15 overs via Duckworth-Lewsi-Method, but the margin of England's six-wicket win was not as big as suggested by the scoreboard.

Pacers Sam Curran (3/38 in three overs) and Eshan Malinga (2/24 in two overs) leaked runs on what was a surface favourable to batters, while Jofra Archer (0/22 in three overs) and Jamie Overton (0/17 in 2.2 overs) also went at over seven runs per over.

And then there was Pathirana, walking away with pride and an impressive economy rate of 4.5 Pathirana displayed his fine repertoire of deliveries, from quick yorkers to pace-off length deliveries and short balls. He was consistently hitting the 140+ mark, with speed guns calculating his highest speed as 148 kph. Two of his bowlers came inside the powerplay, giving away just 10 runs across both of them. The death-overs specialist handled his role as a new-ball bowler really well. Also, wides, an issue with the slingy pacer in the past, very noticeable during last year's Indian Premier League (IPL), had largely disappeared, with only three wides across his spell.

Pathirana on Comeback and Malinga's Guidance

Speaking after the match, Pathirana said on his utilisation during the match, as quoted by ESPNCricinfo, "Even though I have practised to bowl in the powerplay, there was no plan as such for me to bowl there today. It just so happened that our score was lower than we wanted, so it was decided that I would bowl in the power play."

He also admitted that during the last one and a half years, he had lost his rhythm due to his battle with injuries, and it was Malinga, with other coaches, who helped him get back to his best.

"Over the last year, and a half, along with my injuries, it was a challenging period.. I lost my rhythm. I have worked very hard to get back to this level. And then more recently, Mali aiya [Lasith Malinga] was here in Sri Lanka helping out, as well all the coaches at SLC - not just one - all of them helped me get here," he said.

Malinga, who has been a advocate of target-based training drills and hours long repetititive practice sessions, has played a big role in the rise of Pathirana over the years and is also working as SL's fast-bowling coach leading up to the T20 World Cup. Pathirana said that he did not have to change anything "major", but had to do "just simple, basic things". "The main thing was increasing the number of repetitions in practice. If there is any improvement, that is the reason. In terms of practice, I increased it greatly," he added.

From IPL Rejection to Technical Refinements

Pathirana's fortunes have changed, who had played just two T20Is for SL last year, due to poor form and injuries and was released by Chennai Super Kings (CSK) ahead of the 2026 season, having taken just 13 scalps in 12 matches at an average of 32.61 and an economy rate of 10.13. Now, he has been picked up by Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) for Rs 18 crores and is set to be a crucial part of their fast bowling attack.

During the previous IPL, a key criticism was that his release point was not as low as earlier, something that even head coach Stephen Fleming had pointed out. But during Friday's match, Pathirana's release point was much lower than earlier, but not as lower as his breakout season in 2023.

The bowler explained that the change made was not a conscious move on his part, but involuntary due to the shoulder injury he had been facing. "Yes," said Pathirana on if his release point had changed. "In the recent past, I was playing with a fairly major shoulder injury. So I think my body just automatically changed the release point. Even now I am doing rehab in between matches, and I think that is why I am seeing an improvement, and so you can see that the release point is getting to what it used to be," he added.

Boost for Sri Lanka's T20 World Cup Hopes

A fit and firing Pathirana along with Dushmanta Chameera and Eshan also doing well with his clever variations, make Sri Lanka's seam contingent in fine health heading into the T20 World Cup. (ANI)