Matheesha Pathirana, the Sri Lankan pacer whose action resembles Lasith Malinga, has been one of the finds of the Indian Premier League (IPL). This season, he has scalped 10 wickets for the Chennai Super Kings (CSK) and has been MS Dhoni’s trump card in difficult situations. On Saturday afternoon, he was breathing fire at Chepauk where CSK hosted 5-time champions Mumbai Indians (MI) in a reverse fixture.
The Lankan pacer returned magical figures of 3 for 15 in 4 overs, helping Chennai restrict the hosts to 139 for 8 in 20 overs. Apart from Pathirana, the likes of Tushar Deshpande and Deepak Chahar picked a couple of wickets each.
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In reply, Chennai finished the chase of 140 in just 17.4 overs and won the game by 6 wickets. Devon Conway top-scored with 44 while Ruturaj Gaikwad (30) and Shivam Dube (26*) made some notable contributions.
After clinching their 6th win this season, Dhoni heaped massive praise on Pathirana, calling him an asset for Sri Lankan cricket. But at the same time, CSK skipper also had advice for the youngster.
“People who don’t have very clean action, batsmen have a difficult time picking it and when trying to go after the bowler. But his consistency, variation, pace makes him special. What’s important is to keep an eye on how much cricket he is playing. I feel he should not play red-ball cricket, not even get close to it, even play only ICC tournaments with ODIs and keep the rest as less as possible, because he’s not someone who’ll change a lot. This is what he’ll do", Dhoni said at the post-match presentation.
“So you can always use him at crucial times. But make sure he’s fit and available for all the ICC tournaments and he’ll be a great asset for Sri Lanka. Not to forget, he’s a really young boy. The last time he came, he was very lean but has put on muscle and is stronger. I feel he’ll serve for a long time in Sri Lankan cricket but he’ll have to keep an eye on how much he bowls," he further added.
The 6-wicket win took CSK to the second spot on the points table. On the other hand, MI are placed sixth with 10 points.
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