Chennai Super Kings skipper Mahendra Singh Dhoni lavished praise on Matheesha Pathirana, who has played a key role in their success so far in the 2023 Indian Premier League. He believes that the pacer should stick to white-ball cricket, mainly T20Is. Pathirana pulled off a match-winning performance against the Mumbai Indians on Saturday, May 6 at the Chepauk Stadium.
The young speedster took three wickets for fifteen runs in his four overs, as the visitors managed just 139 runs. Overall, he has picked up 10 wickets in seven matches so far in the 2023 Indian Premier League season. Skipper Mahendra Singh Dhoni was all praise for his pace bowler after their six-wicket win against the Mumbai Indians. Speaking at the post-match presentation, he said,
“People who don’t have very clean action, batsmen have a difficult time picking them. And in a format where you have to go after the bowler, it makes it very difficult. That is based on just the action part and not on the pace and the variations he bowls with. He has the consistency that makes him really special.”
“What’s important is to keep an eye as to how much cricket he is playing. I personally feel he is not someone who should play a lot of red-ball cricket, shouldn’t even get close to it. Even in white-ball cricket, he should play ODIs as less as possible. Play only the ICC tournaments, because he’s not somebody who’ll change a lot. This is what he’ll do. So you can always use him at crucial times,” he added.
Matheesha Pathirana's effective bowling performance helped him bag the Player of the Match award from tonight's earlier game 💪@ChennaiIPL record a 6 wickets win over #MI to jump to the 2nd in the points table 🙌#TATAIPL | #CSKvMI pic.twitter.com/bHPlWIjnHB
— IndianPremierLeague (@IPL) May 6, 2023
Matheesha Pathirana will be a great asset for Sri Lanka: MS Dhoni
Matheesha Pathirana made his international debut for Sri Lanka last year in August against Afghanistan in a T20 match. This is his only international match so far. Mahendra Singh Dhoni feels that Sri Lanka should make sure that the pacer is fit for ICC tournaments, as he will be a great asset to the side. Dhoni said,
“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 when he came, he was very lean but has added 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.”
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