5 youngsters to watch at the Cricket World Cup

Matheesha Pathirana (Sri Lanka) :
Matheesha Pathirana has modelled his round-arm sling action on Sri Lanka legend Lasith Malinga
Since the retirement of the great Lasith Malinga after the 2019 World Cup, Sri Lanka have been looking for a shock bowler who can take wickets and tie up the batsmen at the close of the innings.

In Pathirana they appear to have found the most like-for-like replacement possible.

Also a slinger, with an even lower arm action than his model Malinga, the 20-year-old speedster with a penchant for yorkers, stepped into the fast lane when MS Dhoni pulled him into the Chennai IPL squad late in 2022 as a replacement for Adam Milne.

With a perfect sense of theatre, he took the wicket of Shubman Gill with his first ball.

He only made his ODI debut against Afghanistan in June but if Sri Lanka lift the trophy for the second time it will surely be part due to ‘Baby Malinga’.