With three victories out of their first five games in the 2023 Indian Premier League, the Chennai Super Kings are off to a strong start. The CSK displayed excellent all-around play in their previous match against Royal Challengers Bangalore.
Despite posting a massive total of 226/6 in 20 overs, the bowlers came through to give the CSK a close 8-run victory in Bengaluru. Tushar Deshpande, who had stats of 3/45 in four overs, was the bowler of choice, but Matheesha Pathirana, a young Sri Lankan bowler, excelled in the crucial overs.
Pathirana dismissed a dangerous-looking Suyash Prabhudessai on the last ball of the game, allowing just four runs off the innings’ 18th over and just one boundary in the crucial final over. The 20-year-old Sri Lankan bowler took two matches and as many wickets for the Super Kings in the previous edition. However, the team had a bad season and placed ninth in the league.
In addition to removing a dangerous-looking Suyash Prabhudessai on the penultimate ball of the game, Pathirana only allowed four runs to be scored off the innings’ 18th over and only one boundary to be scored in the crucial final over. The 20-year-old Sri Lankan bowler played two matches for the Super Kings in the previous edition and took two wickets. However, the team had a miserable season and came in ninth place.
It’s interesting to note that CSK could have hired Pathirana’s services long before the 2022 event. According to a report by Indian Express, Dhoni spoke with Pathirana in 2020 thanks to Bilal Fassy, who helped establish the cricketing system at Trinity College, where the pacer trains.
Fassy told about Pathirana
“He was only 17 or 18 then, and it was peak of the pandemic when Dhoni wrote a letter asking Pathirana to get vaccinated and join the team in the UAE. He had already played the U-19 World Cup by then (2020) and was featuring in Bangladesh leagues. One of his videos of him demolishing the batsmen with yorkers had gone viral then and that’s when even the Super Kings showed interest in him,” Fassy told the newspaper.
According to Fassy, Dhoni watched a video of Pathirana bowling in a school competition.
“In the last three years, he has developed a lot. The video that Dhoni saw was not from a first-class game or something, but from a school tournament against (Sanath) Jayasuriya’s school. And very soon even Malinga, who has been coaching few boys with similar action, started showing interest in Pathirana too. Unlike others in the group, what impressed Malinga was Pathirana’s speed and the accuracy he was able to get. He still has work about his consistency in gaining accuracy, but you can see him gaining confidence,” Fassy said.
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