‘Mahi jaisa koi nahi’ -Fans react as Matheesha Pathirana credits MS Dhoni for grooming him at Chennai Super Kings
Matheesha Pathirana has picked 21 wickets in 14 games for Chennai Super Kings.
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Aug 17, 2023 5:40 pm
MS Dhoni and Matheesha Pathirana (Source: Twitter)
Matheesha Pathirana has been a wonderful find for the Chennai Super Kings (CSK). The Sri Lankan pacer was picked in the 2022 edition of the Indian Premier League (IPL). as a replacement for New Zealand pacer, Adam Milne. Pathirana has a slingy type action like Lasith Malinga did which makes him very hard to read. The right-armer picked up 21 wickets in 14 games at an economy rate of 7.95. Pathirana had been pigeonholed as MS Dhoni’s death-over specialist in the CSK ranks.
Pathirana made his ODI and T20I debut for the national side. The 20-year-old has also been in good form while playing for the Colombo Strikers (CLS) in the Lanka Premier League (LPL). He scalped 12 wickets in eight games. CLS crashed out of the tournament by virtue of being the bottom-placed side in the tournament. The playoffs will be played on August 17 between the top four sides on the points table. Pathirana termed his experience with MS Dhoni as ‘life-changing’.
Dhoni told me to keep my body free from injury – Matheesha Pathirana
“As a youngster, if someone gives you confidence like that, it boosts your career. A player of that level showed faith in me and I believed I can do anything in that moment. Not only me, Dhoni gave confidence to all of us. There were 4-5 top players who were injured and he showed his trust in youngsters which was great,” Pathirana said. CSK have won five Indian Premier League titles and are the most successful IPL franchise along with Mumbai Indians (MI).
“I learned a lot from Dhoni. The first thing is humbleness and that’s why he is very successful. He is 42 and still the fittest cricketer which is really inspiring. When I went there, I was a kid and no one knew me and they trained and taught me several things. Now, I know how to perform in any T20 game and how to balance my four overs in a match. Dhoni told me if I keep my body away from injury then I can achieve a lot for the team and the country,” Pathirana added.
