Sri Lankan right arm fast bowler Eshan Malinga had a successful IPL capturing 20 wickets in 15 matches with best figures of 4 for 32.

The 25 year old Eshan played for Sunrises Hyderabad for the second time in a row and was praised by skipper of Sunrises Hyderabad Pat Cummins. His ability to bow at death overs always gave success to Hyderabad team before losing to Gujarat Titans the IPL runners up this time. As soon as he finished his IPL duty Eshan Malinga returned home and left for West Indies yesterday to join the Sri Lanka team .Eshan and Dilshan Madushanka both were in same Hyderabad team while Sri Lanka legends Muttiach Muralitharan and trainer Mario Villawarayan were also among the Sunrises Hyderabad supporting staff.

Eshan Malinga came on a difficult journey . He hails from Opanayake in Ratnapura and lacked facilities Eshan .had studied at Ratnapura Seewali College and he is the first player to represent National team from his school . ‘I didn’t play hardball cricket until I was 18 years old. The big match was my first hardball match. I won the man of the match award. After that, people started calling me Opanayake Express.. However with the limited facilities I decided to stop playing cricket because I wanted to take care of my family. We are not rich. My father is a driver. But my family told me not to give up. If you want to do something, you have to sacrifice a lot. I did that. and I am very happy to come on this journey ‘ aid Eshan.In 2025, Eshan followed a seven-game IPL stint (13 wickets) for Sunrises Hyderabad with his T20I debut for Sri Lanka later in the year, and gained valuable experience. Before I played IPL, I didn’t play many T20 matches. Just one LPL and eight domestic T20 games. I didn’t have a lot of experience. Playing in the IPL gave me that strong mindset said Eshan Malinga.

As a fast bowler, I think my biggest strength is the yorker, and reverse swing and the slow ball bouncer. I have a few variations . That’s my strength added Eshan Malinga .“Everyone [in the IPL] is coming out to hit and we as bowlers too want to go hard against them. But sometimes we have to go with a defensive mindset.

Learning those things helped me when I joined the national side. It helped me on how to handle a situation and make decision-making. Eshan Malinga remembered his journey from Ratnapura to Colombo .Back home in Ratnapura, a young Eshan would tie clothes between two trees at his home and keep bowling at it.The fast bowling coach Chamila Gamage found his action repeatable and pace was impressive even then, and gladly enrolled him at his training academy a few years later for him to play leather ball cricket.

When I was in Ratnapura I had chance to take part in Airtel Fast bowling programme at Badulla and I bowled at 127 kmph speed on that occasion. I was selected for Colombo programme with my achievements and that was the turning point of my career said Eshan. The best 50 players were in this training camp handled by legends Chaminda Vaas, Hashan Thilekeratne , Anusha Samarahayake who gave their support and I had chance to bowl on turf wickets for the first time . I applied for this programme at my Mothers request.

At Colombo program I bowled at 131 kmph speed and finally at the final training program I bowled 141 kmph speed and got a real boost.The fast bowling coach Chamila Gamage always worked with me to develop my skills and even today Eshan contacts fast bowling coach Chamila to get his advice. Chamila Gamage the fast bowling coach said Eshan always has good commitment during practices and his dedication helped to get success . Unfortunately he couldn’t take part in last T-20 world cup due to injury and that was a big loss for the Sri Lanka team . Getting IPL for the second time gave big boost to develop his career said Chamila Gamage. His slinging bowling action is always a big challenge for opponent batters said Gamage .

Gamage introduced Eshan to step-bowling. In the nets under Gamage’s supervision, Eshan would bowl 20-30 deliveries from just a single step run-up. Then he would graduate to two steps, and then three and four before finally moving on to the full run-up. “Sometimes he would bowl only three or four steps all day. This helps in understanding how he’s feeling physically, how he’s releasing the ball and visualizing his ideas,” Gamage explains. For swing, they’d condition his wrists by training with a heavy ball for hours .

Eshan arrived in India for IPL 2026 with a targets in mind: to pick 20 wickets and he did it with more determination. He should have get more wickets but unfortunately few catches were dropped off his bowling and that’s cricket and we cannot control those said Chamila However I am sure his performance for National team against West Indies will be more successful for the Sri Lanka team .