I attended a trial with Mumbai Indians and missed out by a small mistake, says 'TNPL's Malinga' Athisayaraj Davidson 

Lasith Malinga - the things that come to our mind when we speak about the Sri Lankan pacer are his hairstyle and his slinging bowling action with which he accurately bowls his yorkers. One can see people with a similar hairstyle easily but to see a bowler with a similar slingy bowling action and the ease at which he bowls his yorker is very rare.

The Tamil Nadu Premier League has unearthed its own Lasith Malinga as 26-year-old Jones Tuti Patriots fast bowler Athisayaraj Davidson has attracted everyone's eyes with a similar bowling action to Malinga and has managed to be accurate, not as accurate as the Sri Lankan, with his yorkers.

Meet The Indian Lasith Malinga... #Davidson #DELvTN #SyedMushtaqAliTrophy #IPL pic.twitter.com/PHBdivBM9x

— Aakash Chopra (@cricketaakash) January 21, 2018

Athisayaraj started his career with the Globe Trotters in 2015 but TNPL proved to be his launch pad. After playing just two games in 2016 due to injury, he managed to play all the games the next year and finished as the second leading wicket-taker in the tournament with 15 wickets.

He was drafted into the Tamil Nadu team for the Syed Mushtaq Ali T20 tournament and took 10 wickets in five matches, including a five-for against a strong Karnataka batting unit. He was later given an IPL trial by Mumbai Indians but he missed out narrowly on getting picked by the franchise.

In the ongoing TNpL, he picked 13wickets in seven games but that wasn't enough to take his team to the next round as Tuti Patriots were knockout of the tournament before the first time in the tournament's history.

Sportskeeda caught up with the fast bowler and here are the excerpts.

Q: How did you start playing cricket? How have things gone so far for you?

I started playing with Tennis balls and rubber balls. I didn't have any interest to play with Cricket ball until I moved to college. But, there was a rule in my college which stated that you have to play with the cricket ball if you want to represent the college. I started off there and played for three years when I studied computer science. Later, I studied physical education for four years and played for my university for three years.

That's when Sunil Sam took me as a net bowler for a first division team. I bowled for three days and the director of MRF Pace Foundation, M Senthilnathan was impressed with my bowling and asked me whether I could play first division cricket.

I joined MRF pace foundation and co-incidentally, TNPL also got underway in the same year. I suffered an injury before the first season and managed to play just two matches. In the second, I played all the matches and finished as the second leading wicket-taker. This is my third year and I think I have been bowled well.

Q: How did you develop your slingy bowling action?

I started off with this bowling action when I started off with the rubber ball. It is not that I developed this for Cricket ball or got inspired by someone to bowl with this action.

Q: You are very accurate with your yorkers. What is the secret behind that particular delivery?

Be it nets or home or ground, I always practice bowling yorkers. So, it becomes easier for me to bowl yorkers with ease during the matches. I am still looking to improve my accuracy when I bowl this delivery.

Q: You missed out on playing the 2018 IPL after attending a trial with an IPL team. What happened there?

In the past, playing in the first division was like a dream. From there to play in the IPL was a big thing. I attended a trial with Mumbai Indians and missed out by a small mistake. My target is to play in the IPL and I will work towards that.

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