{"id":12090,"date":"2026-06-17T22:13:56","date_gmt":"2026-06-17T16:43:56","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/slsports.lk\/?p=12090"},"modified":"2026-06-17T22:13:57","modified_gmt":"2026-06-17T16:43:57","slug":"matheesha-pathirana-undergoes-major-surgery-in-france","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/slsports.lk\/si\/matheesha-pathirana-undergoes-major-surgery-in-france\/","title":{"rendered":"Matheesha Pathirana undergoes major surgery in France"},"content":{"rendered":"<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Matheesha Pathirana, a Sri Lankan fast bowler and popularly known as \u2018Baby Malinga\u2019 in the world cricket arena, has undergone a successful surgery in France.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">It is reported that the surgery was performed for a serious injury to his left thigh.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Matheesha\u2019s manager Amila Kalugala officially confirmed the news and said:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cMatheesha\u2019s surgery was completed very successfully. He has now started his recovery and rehabilitation from France. We would like to express our special gratitude to Sri Lanka Cricket and his IPL team Kolkata Knight Riders for their utmost support throughout this process.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Matheesha&#8217;s manager has further stated that he is not depressed at this time and is determined to recover quickly and return to the cricket he loves stronger than ever.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Even if the surgery is successful, Matheesha will have to spend a few more days in rehabilitation before he can bowl normally again. A specific date for his return to action has not been announced yet.<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Matheesha Pathirana, a Sri Lankan fast bowler and popularly known as \u2018Baby Malinga\u2019 in the world cricket arena, has undergone a successful surgery in France. It is reported that the surgery was performed for a serious injury to his left thigh. Matheesha\u2019s manager Amila Kalugala officially confirmed the news and said: \u201cMatheesha\u2019s surgery was completed&#8230;<\/p>","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":12091,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"_uf_show_specific_survey":0,"_uf_disable_surveys":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[20,57],"tags":[281,73,134,72],"class_list":["post-12090","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-cricket","category-national-cricket","tag-matheesha-pathirana","tag-slsports","tag-sports-news","tag-sri-lanka-cricket"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v24.5 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Matheesha Pathirana undergoes major surgery in France - SL Sports<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/slsports.lk\/si\/matheesha-pathirana-undergoes-major-surgery-in-france\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"si_LK\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Matheesha Pathirana undergoes major surgery in France - SL Sports\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Matheesha Pathirana, a Sri Lankan fast bowler and popularly known as \u2018Baby Malinga\u2019 in the world cricket arena, has undergone a successful surgery in France. It is reported that the surgery was performed for a serious injury to his left thigh. Matheesha\u2019s manager Amila Kalugala officially confirmed the news and said: \u201cMatheesha\u2019s surgery was completed...\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/slsports.lk\/si\/matheesha-pathirana-undergoes-major-surgery-in-france\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"SL Sports\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/lknewsroom\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2026-06-17T16:43:56+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2026-06-17T16:43:57+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/slsports.lk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/mth-2026-06-17.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1200\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"675\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Slsports Viraj\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@SlSports5\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@SlSports5\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Slsports Viraj\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"1 minute\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/slsports.lk\/matheesha-pathirana-undergoes-major-surgery-in-france\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/slsports.lk\/matheesha-pathirana-undergoes-major-surgery-in-france\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Slsports Viraj\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/slsports.lk\/#\/schema\/person\/6e3ead9806ed4f2b4ddfc9faa69328a5\"},\"headline\":\"Matheesha Pathirana undergoes major surgery in France\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-06-17T16:43:56+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2026-06-17T16:43:57+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/slsports.lk\/matheesha-pathirana-undergoes-major-surgery-in-france\/\"},\"wordCount\":168,\"commentCount\":0,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/slsports.lk\/#organization\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/slsports.lk\/matheesha-pathirana-undergoes-major-surgery-in-france\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/slsports.lk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/mth-2026-06-17.jpg\",\"keywords\":[\"Matheesha Pathirana\",\"slsports\",\"sports news\",\"sri lanka cricket\"],\"articleSection\":[\"Cricket\",\"National Cricket\"],\"inLanguage\":\"si\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/slsports.lk\/matheesha-pathirana-undergoes-major-surgery-in-france\/#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/slsports.lk\/matheesha-pathirana-undergoes-major-surgery-in-france\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/slsports.lk\/matheesha-pathirana-undergoes-major-surgery-in-france\/\",\"name\":\"Matheesha Pathirana undergoes major surgery in France - 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