Fast and accurate Pathirana big hope for Sri Lanka

Rex Clementine at Dambulla

International cricket returned to Dambulla after six years and a packed house turned out to witness the game with the tickets sold out 48 hours before the game at the 18,000-capacity stadium.

Sri Lanka have been unbeaten in this multi-format bilateral series against Afghanistan and they had to thank their bowlers, who defended a below par target of 161 in the first T-20 on Saturday.

Afghanistan needed 14 off the last two overs with three wickets in hand and more importantly their captain Ibrahim Zadran was going out all guns blazing. It was Afghanistan’s game. But then Matheesha Pathirana bowled a superb penultimate over to turn the game on its head.

The 21-year-old cleaned up Noor Ahmad and Qais Ahmad with two deadly yorkers in an over where he was clocked at 153.4 kmph. There’s no better sight in cricket than a fast bowler clocking that kind of pace. He sets up the batters with a bouncer followed by the yorker and not many tail-enders are equipped to cope with such clever fast bowling.

Exciting times are ahead for Sri Lanka with Pathirana in their attack in a World Cup year.

Captain Wanindu Hasaranga handled situations well. Most conventional captains would have kept his trump card for the last over but by then the match would have slipped away. It was an excellent move to bring Pathirana on in the 19th over and he did the job.

Still, Afghanistan needed 11 off the last over and quite possible as you had no idea what Binura Fernando would produce under pressure. But he held onto his nerves bowling to the Afghan captain as Sri Lanka pulled off a thrilling four run win.

“Binura must have been under tremendous pressure but he was calm and bowled a superb over. Four dot balls set up the game for us,” Pathirana told journalists at the post-match media briefing.

“The game was hanging in the balance when I came on in the 19th over. Happy to have done the job for the team. Tried a few yorkers and they were down to the tail and yorkers for the tail is a very good weapon.”

Sri Lanka were expected to post in excess of 180 at one stage as they were 146 for five heading into the last four overs. But there was a dramatic collapse as they lost the last five wickets for just 14 runs in the space of 19 deliveries.

“We wanted to get more than 170. We knew we were short. If we are to win the game we have to forget and come back and fight. It was a good fight back by the bowlers,” Pathirana explained.

“The secret to bowling fast is that you need to bowl more and more. If I have the rhythm, I mostly get the pace right. I have always bowled fast. Now it’s a matter of getting the accuracy right.”