Chennai Super Kings ended their IPL 2022 campaign with a disappointing defeat against the Rajasthan Royals. They entered the competition as the defending champions, but the Chennai-based franchise finished in the bottom half of the points table with just four wins from 14 matches. However, there were very few bright spots for CSK, one of them being Matheesha Pathirana.
Fans should note that the Chennai Super Kings did not sign him at the IPL 2022 Mega Auction, but they later signed him as a replacement for Adam Milne. In the beginning, Milne played for the Chennai Super Kings, but he suffered an injury which ruled him out of the 2022 edition of the Indian Premier League.
Pathirana had grabbed fans’ attention while playing for the Sri Lanka U-19s in ICC U-19 World Cup. He became the first uncapped Sri Lankan cricketer to play in an IPL match. Speaking about his skills at the post-match presentation of the game between the Rajasthan Royals and the Chennai Super Kings, Dhoni said:
“Our Malinga (Pathirana) is really good. He’s difficult to pick for the batters and he will definitely play a big role for us next year.”
Matheesha Pathirana made an impressive debut against the Gujarat Titans
Matheesha Pathirana started his Indian Premier League career against the Gujarat Titans and his first two IPL wickets were Shubman Gill and Hardik Pandya. His action is slingy and a little similar to that of former Sri Lankan cricket team fast bowler Lasith Malinga.
It will be exciting to see how he performs for the Chennai Super Kings in the coming seasons. Here’s what Dhoni had said about him after the game against Gujarat Titans:
“I think Pathirana is an excellent death bowler. A bit similar to Malinga. With his action, the margin of error for him is quite big. With a slingy action, he is slightly difficult to pick.”
