The cricketing world is fast falling in love with a fast bowler from Sri Lanka’s gem-rich hills — Opanayake Express’, ‘Ratnapura Express’ Eshan Malinga is laced with pace, precision, and pure fire in an explosive package. The right arm bowler has consistently made his way through Sri Lanka’s domestic circuit then got his ODI call-up in early-2025. However, once at the school level, he had the opportunity to do a two inning demolition with 11 wickets for 63 runs — and hasn’t stopped taking wickets since. The next big Sri Lankan export is here and it’s a fast bowler.
His domestic performance helped him to get a chance in international cricket and large T20 franchise leagues like the Indian Premier League. Sunrisers Hyderabad had given a lift its popularity after its debut match as his pace and disciplined bowling style got the cricket fans worldwide impressed.
This article will provide complete information about Eshan Malinga Profile, Age, Family, Career, Stats, Net Worth, Social Media & More.
Who is Eshan Malinga?
Eshan Malinga is a promising Sri Lankan cricketer and is in the spotlight due to his speedy fast bowling in domestic and International cricket. He was born in Ratnapura in Sri Lanka on 4th July 2001, and is a right arm fast-medium bowler and a left-handed batter playing in the tail. Eshan, like his idol Lasith Malinga, is one of the most promising young bowlers in Sri Lanka. His cricket career began in domestic cricket with Ragama Cricket Club; he then went on to be recognized for his dependable wicket taking in domestic cricket.
Eshan made his debut Internationals in 2025, and was soon recognized as a fast bowler and an aggressive one at that, plus one who could bowl under pressure. He has also played for other cricket teams such as Jaffna Kings and Sunrisers Hyderabad. Sri Lankan cricket has given him speed and he is believed to be among the country’s future stars in the game owing to his sharp speed.
| Attribute | Details |
| Full Name | Kiribathgala Kankanamalage Eshan Malinga Dharmasena |
| Popular Name | Eshan Malinga |
| Profession | Cricketer |
| Date of Birth | February 4, 2001 |
| Age (2026) | 25 Years |
| Birthplace | Ratnapura, Sri Lanka |
| Nationality | Sri Lankan |
| Religion | Buddhism |
| Zodiac Sign | Aquarius |
| Batting Style | Left-Handed Bat |
| Bowling Style | Right-Arm Fast-Medium |
| Role | Bowler |
| Domestic Team | Ragama Cricket Club |
| Franchise Teams | Sunrisers Hyderabad, Jaffna Kings, Colombo Strikers |
| International Debut | 2025 |
| Famous For | Fast bowling and IPL performances |
Eshan Malinga Age (As of 2026)
He was Born on February 4, 2001. As of 2026 Eshan Malinga is 25 years old. His zodiac sign is Aquarius.
| Detail | Information |
| Date of Birth | February 4, 2001 |
| Birth Year | 2001 |
| Current Age | 25 Years (2026) |
| Zodiac Sign | Aquarius |
Eshan Malinga Height, Weight and Physical Status
Eshan Malinga is 5 feet 10 inches tall. He has a good athletic frame which assists him in creating motion and bounce regularly. He has specialized training in strength, endurance and speed. His fitness levels have been significant in coping with International & franchised matches.
| Physical Attribute | Details |
| Height | 5 feet 10 inches |
| Height in CM | 178 cm |
| Weight | Approx. 75 kg |
| Eye Color | Black |
| Hair Color | Black |
| Body Type | Athletic |
| Fitness Style | Pace-oriented training |
Early Life and Family Background
Eshan Malinga was a fruits of the Land born and rose in Ratnapura, Sri Lanka, which is a land of sports wonderlands. He was brought up in a cricket-friendly environment with some of his relatives and local areas being quite involved in the game. His passion for bowling started from the early stages and he devoted hours in practising on grounds locally.
Eshan’s humble upbringing had posed multiple challenges to his early career in cricket. He could only use the professional facilities and coaching he had access to but he persevered. Through school and local cricket competitions he gradually started to gain recognition from coaches and selectors.
Interestingly, he was christened after Sri Lankan great fast bowler Lasith Malinga. That led to his surrounding himself with a circle of expectations from an early age. Gradually, Eshan worked diligently to build his own image while imbibing lessons from his well-known namesake.
| Aspect | Details |
| Birthplace | Ratnapura, Sri Lanka |
| Hometown | Ratnapura |
| Childhood Interest | Cricket |
| Father Name | Gamini Dharamsena |
| Family Background | Supportive and cricket-loving |
| Early Training | Local cricket grounds |
| Main Challenge | Limited resources and facilities |
| Inspiration | Lasith Malinga |
Eshan Malinga Education
Eshan Malinga attended Sivali Central College in Ratnapura, Sri Lanka, where he was a disciplined student with a strong command of academics. Later on he continued studying at Vidyakara Maha Vidyalaya, Opanayake and had parallelly taken up cricket as his passion. While many of professional cricketers take formal training at very young ages.
Eshan Malinga Girlfriend, Marital Status and Personal Life
Eshan Malinga doesn’t like to talk about his personal life. He is unmarried and is on his main focus in building his cricket career as of 2026. As of now there are no rumours and claims about any girlfriend or public relationship.
Eshan Malinga Career Highlights
Eshan Malinga was gaining momentum in Sri Lanka. He was playing his first-class cricket for Ragama Cricket Club in 2022-23. He demonstrated his qualities to bowl fast and precise under pressure in domestic tournaments.
In the initial years of his domestic career he always had regular wickets in both test and white ball cricket. The reason he was known is his ability to cause trouble to batters with clean bounce, and precision with length. The excellence he began to show gradually made his name get noticed by the national selectors.
Eshan was introduced to Sri Lanka’s ODI team for the first time in 2025 against New Zealand. The same year, he also debuted in T20 International cricket against Zimbabwe. This was a significant moment as he was a part of Sri Lanka’s next generation of the fast bowlers for the first time when he got chance to play in the international arena.
Like that, his reputation also rose and now he gets IPL franchises. He joined Sunrisers Hyderabad for IPL 2025 and mesmerised the audience with his pace bowling skills. Playing in the IPL provided him with much exposure with world-class players and also boosted his confidence.
In addition to playing for the cricket team IPL, Eshan has also played for various cricket franchises such as Jaffna Kings, Colombo Strikers and Paarl Royals. These provided him with experience in various situations and formats.
His quick adaptability in T20 cricket makes him a good player in the franchise leagues of the world. Cricket pundits feel that if he gets a few more years to mature, he will emerge as one of Sri Lanka’s ace pace bowlers in the future.
| Format | Debut Year | Major Teams/Details |
| First-Class Cricket | 2022-23 | Ragama Cricket Club |
| ODI Cricket | 2025 | Sri Lanka vs New Zealand |
| T20I Cricket | 2025 | Sri Lanka vs Zimbabwe |
| IPL | 2025 | Sunrisers Hyderabad |
| Franchise Cricket | 2024-26 | Jaffna Kings, Colombo Strikers, Paarl Royals |
Eshan Malinga Stats
Sri Lankan fast bowler Eshan Malinga has emerged as one of the country’s emerging pacer talents in all formats. He has played a few ODIs and appeared in 8 T20Is in IC cricket, primarily as a bowler. His batting statistics are still not impressive, but his bowling has improved consistently particularly in the shortest format with 8 wickets for 9.42 and the result comes as he has never bowled under 9.5 in an ODI. What has been particularly outstanding about his IPL career is that he has picked up 29 wickets in 19 matches with an average of 22.3, which proves that there isn’t a shortage of wickets, even in high stakes franchise cricket when it comes to him. He is an adaptive bowler, has good pace and has an aggressive style which makes him a valuable lower order bowling all-rounder for both Sri Lanka and franchise teams.
| Format | Matches | Runs | Bat Avg | SR | Wickets | Bowl Avg | Econ | Catches |
| ODI | 7 | 15 | 5.0 | 27.3 | 4 | 55.8 | 6.03 | 2 |
| T20I | 8 | 1 | 1.0 | 14.3 | 8 | 26.9 | 9.42 | 3 |
| IPL | 19 | 2 | — | 22.2 | 29 | 22.3 | 9.36 | 7 |
| First-Class | 17 | 34 | 3.8 | 21.5 | 39 | 30.3 | 3.73 | 5 |
| List A | 21 | 41 | 8.2 | 38.0 | 25 | 34.7 | 6.22 | 3 |
| T20 | 51 | 27 | 6.8 | 64.3 | 68 | 22.3 | 8.82 | 16 |
league Teams, Price & Best Performances
Lanka Premier League (LPL) –
Malinga’s journey into the world of franchise cricket started with LPL, where he was selected as the player for Colombo Strikers in 2023 and later picked for Jaffna Kings in 2024. He was a key contributor to Jaffna Kings LPL campaign, playing a leading role with the ball and assisting them to secure a title. His LPL contract value with Jaffna Kings was valued at around ₹60 lakh. —
SA20 — Paarl Royals (PR)-
Eshan Malinga was recently picked up by the Paarl Royals at the 2025 SA20 player auction for R1 million (close to USD 55,000). He had been replacing a player with the team in SA20 Season 3 and the franchise signed him up on a full contract for Season 4. He made an appearance in one SA20 match and picked up 2 wickets for 21 runs. —
Indian Premier League (IPL) — Sunrisers Hyderabad
- After a riveting bidding battle between Eshan and Rajasthan Royals, the former was picked up by Sunrisers Hyderabad for Rs 12.20 lakh (four times his base price of Rs 30 lakh).
- IPL 2025 — Debut Season: He appeared in seven games, picked up 13 wickets with an average of 18.90, his innate ability to break the boundary.
- Against the Kolkata Knight Riders, his best was 3 for 31 to help the bowlers partition the opposition for 168 as SRH had posted an immense 278 for 3.
- IPL 2026 — Continuing the Run: In IPL 2026, Eshan Malinga has claimed 15 wickets with a four-wicket match.
- He was retained by SRH for the upcoming 2026 season at the same price of ₹1.20 crore, making him one of their most trusted overseas seamers.
Recent Performances
Eshan Malinga played mixed but effective games in recent games for Sunrisers Hyderabad T20 side. His best performance was that croaker against Delhi Capitals when he returned with 4/32 and also demonstrated his wicket picking prowess in big moments. He was also effective against Chennai Super Kings with a 3/29 and the consistency with his useful spells against Rajasthan Royals and Mumbai Indians. He had to pay a high price for Gujarat Titans and Punjab Kings, but still he remained without a vestige of doubt when it came to pricey outings he was able to attack with the pace and bounce. In these recent outings, he has shown that he’s becoming increasingly settled and prominent in the SRH armoury as a fledgling death-over bowler.
| Match | Bowl | Ground | Format |
| SRH vs GT | 0/46 | Ahmedabad | T20 |
| SRH vs PBKS | 1/36 | Hyderabad | T20 |
| SRH vs KKR | 0/42 | Hyderabad | T20 |
| SRH vs MI | 1/29 | Wankhede | T20 |
| SRH vs RR | 2/38 | Jaipur | T20 |
| SRH vs DC | 4/32 | Hyderabad | T20 |
| SRH vs CSK | 3/29 | Hyderabad | T20 |
| SRH vs RR | 2/31 | Hyderabad | T20 |
| SRH vs PBKS | 0/46 | New Chandigarh | T20 |
| SRH vs LSG | 1/30 | Hyderabad | T20 |
Career Best Performances
| Format | Best Figures | Achievement |
| First Class | 6/67 | Best Stats across 16 first classs matches. |
| List A | 5/49 | Best performance across 17 List A Matches |
| School Cricket | 11/63 | Six wickets in 61st Innings 5 in 2nd innings at the Ranmini Inter School Big Match |
| IPL | 3/31 | VsKKR, IPL 2025 |
Quietly, Eshan Malinga has emerged as one of the most potent reverse-swing bowlers in the world, and SRH stitch much of their bowling plan around him. The best is yet to come and at the tender age of 25.
Eshan Malinga Net Worth (As of 2026)
The net worth of the Eshan Malinga is estimated to be approximately ₹1.5– $1.5crore as of 2026 and primarily He got a big break after being signed by Sunrisers Hyderabad for ₹1.20 crore in the mega auction of the Indian Premier League 2025 and kept for the next season of 2026.
His impressive performances as a pacer particularly in the death overs has made him a lot more popular and fetches a lot more market value. Aside from IPL earnings, he also makes money as a Lanka Premier League player, Sri Lankan cricket (domestic) player, as match fees and sponsorships, and is one of the young cricketers to emerge from Sri Lanka.
Eshan Malinga Social Media Profiles
He is active on social media. He posts pictures of his bowling practice, photos from his matches, fitness workouts and travel updates on his Instagram page regularly.
| Platform | Handle | Followers (Approx.) | Content Type |
| @malinga__97 | 63.0 K+ | Training and cricket updates | |
| Twitter/X | Limited Activity | 20K+ | Match-related posts |
| Not Very Active | N/A | General updates |
Conclusion
Eshan Malinga is one of the promising youngsters of Sri Lanka when it comes to fast bowling. His progress from Ratnapura cricket fields to the international cricket arena and IPL showcases his diligence, dedication, and ability. He has already begun his journey towards Sri Lanka being a star of the future, given his experience level. His delivery, his discipline, his aggression and his pace continue to delight cricket watchers all around the globe. Looking at Malinga’s performances so far, Eshan Malinga could emerge as one of the numbers of the next generation if he showcases his pace and fitness.
FAQs
Eshan Malinga is a right arm fast medium bowler of Sri Lanka.
He is 25 years old as of 2026.
He is playing for Sunrisers Hyderabad.
Eshan Malinga is a right arm fast-medium bowler.
No, Eshan Malinga is not married.
