'You're my father at home. In India, MS Dhoni is my father': Matheesha Pathirana left music career to play for ‘God’

Matheesha Pathirana is a certified pianist and singer born into a family of musicians in Kandy. His father, Anura, and his mother, Shalika, are trained vocalists. After his initial tryst with different musical instruments, Matheesha aspired to become a pilot because of his mother's dreams and his desire to travel the world. He still travels a lot, but not as a pilot. Somewhere in between, he fell in love with cricket so intensely that it overpowered everything else.

Matheesha Pathirana's cricketing journey is as rare as it gets. It's not exactly a rags-to-riches story, nor is it entirely of cricketing excellence. It is something unnaturally natural. That's it, unnaturally natural. Try explaining this: A Sri Lankan teenager with very little exposure to cricket getting identified and nurtured by an Indian franchise - Chennai Super Kings, learning the art and crafts of the game and then going on to represent the country and that too based on the advice of that franchise's legendary cricketer, MS Dhoni, in any other way. Hence, unnaturally natural.

Music and studies were the only focus of the Pathirana family. Matheesha was the youngest member. In his own words, his two elder sisters would "treat him like a lab rabbit". Ask his sisters; they would say Matheesha was "not a bad boy" but also "not an innocent one".

Early life from baseball to cricket

Matheesha started his love affair with sports as a baseball player. He didn't have any relation with cricket till the 7th grade. Only when his school seniors spotted his natural talents with the ball was he asked to join them in cricket practice. He agreed but had to promise his parents to study hard falsely. "I told him I will only allow you to play cricket if you study. He said yes but never touched books. Whenever there was a parent-teacher meeting, the teachers would tell me that my son always looks out of the window," said Shailika, Matheesha's mother, in a video uploaded by CSK.

His school coach remembers spotting his potential early on: "That action was strange, but it worked. We didn’t try to change it—just refine it." When he started bowling regularly in U15 and U17 cricket matches, did he discover the similarities with Sri Lanka legend Lasith Malinga? "A lot of people told me your action is similar to Malinga. Why don't you bowl like him?" said Matheesha.

Matheesha's slingy action, high pace, and raw talent reached Chaminda Vaas, another Sri Lanka great. Vaas invited him to Colombo to join Trinity College, the most expensive private school in Sri Lanka and the one with a legacy of producing sporting greats.

His career took off like a stone from a slingshot when a small video of his six-wicket haul in his turf wicket debut in an age-group match went viral. His Instagram followers started seeing fast organic growth. He soon became a part of the national set-up after getting drafted into the Sri Lanka U19 team. He didn't have a great World Cup in 2000, but one and all identified the potential. But with that also came the scrutiny. He was dismissed as "wannabe Malinga" by many.

‘Father’ MS Dhoni and journey with CSK

The next chapter, and perhaps the most significant one so far, in Matheesha's life began when Lakshmi Narayanan, CSK's video analyst, was impressed by one of his bowling videos. Lakshmi kept a close watch on how Pathirana fared in the T10 league in Abu Dhabi. He didn't take long to recommend Matheesha for the CSK nets.

"MS had not seen Pathirana at all. Having seeing him in the nets for the first time, he thought yes there is potential," said CSK CEO Kasi Viswanathan.

Maheesh Thikshana, a Sri Lanka spinner who was then part of the CSK squad, asked for more of Matheesha's videos and told his parents to apply for an Indian visa as CSK were looking for a replacement. On their journey from Colombo to Kandy after applying for the Indian Visa, the Pathirana family got the news of Matheesha being picked in the CSK squad as a replacement for injured New Zealand fast bowler Adam Milne in IPL 2022.

Since then, he has been under Dhoni's wings. The legendary cricketer took it upon himself to care for Matheesha as his younger brother. "No words for MS Dhoni. He is real God. How Matheesha respects his father. Like that, he respects Dhoni," said Matheesha's mother.

"In Sri Lanka, you are my father, in India it is MS Dhoni," added his father.

"I treat MS Dhoni as my father figure because of what he has done for me in cricket. The support he has given me in cricket is very similar to what my father gave me at home," said Matheesha.

When Matheesha met Dhoni for the first time, the then CSK captain had greeted him as "Mali", which in Sri Lanka means younger brother. He has been one for Dhoni.

Matheesha picked up 19 wickets for CSK in 12 matches and went on to play a crucial role in their title-winning run in IPL 2023. His slingy yorkers and deadly bouncers were now a weapon in the death overs for CSK.

In IPL 2024, Matheesha played only six matches as he was sidelined due to an injury but so invested was Dhoni that CSK retained him for ₹13 crore, making Matheesha the franchise's first fast bowler to be retained ahead of a mega auction.