Former India and the current Chennai Super Kings (CSK) captain MS Dhoni louded the young Sri Lankan pacer Matheesha Pathirana after the bowler’s impressive debut in the Indian Premier League (IPL).
Chennai Super Kings faced off the Gujarat Titans in the match number 62 of the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2022. The yellow army fielded a plethora of changes into the Playing XI, including the young Sri Lankan pacer Matheesha Pathirana, who also goes by the nickname Baby Malinga or Junior Malinga for many similarities with legendary pacer Lasith Malinga.
Matheesha Pathirana came into limelight during the two editions of the U19 Cricket World Cup that the Sri Lankan has featured in. The 19-years-old pacer was roped by Chennai Super Kings as a replacement of Adam Milne.
Pathirana is still to make his International and the promise that he has shown at the age of just 19-years-old, there is surely something waiting for the youngster in the feature and could Sri Lanka’s most valuable asset, like he was for CSK in the match against Gujarat.
Even though Chennai Super Kings lost the, Pathirana impressed everyone, taking 2 wickets of the total 3 wickets of Gujarat Titans.
After his performance, even CSK skipper MS Dhoni louded the pacer. Dhoni said, “With Pathirana, the margin of error is slim. He’s got a good slower one and it will be tough to hit him if he bowls consistent pace.”
IPL 2022 was a misery for the defending champions, as they currently hangs 9th in the points table with 4 wins from their 13 matches. However, the emergence of players like Pathirana, Mukesh Choudhary is a really good sign for CSK as they target for a solid comeback in IPL 2023. Chennai Super Kings next play the Rajasthan Royals in their last match of the season on the 20th of May.
