MS Dhoni and Matisha Pathirana: Matisha Pathirana scored 15 runs in 4 overs and took three wickets in Chennai Super Kings vs Mumbai Indians match on Saturday (May 6) in IPL. Thanks to his bowling, CSK restricted Mumbai Indians to just 139 runs and then easily achieved the target. Pathirana was selected as the ‘Player of the Match’ here. CSK captain MS Dhoni was proud of his bowler’s strong performance. After the match, he made a special comment praising Pathirana. He said that there is a need to keep an eye on this bowler. Why Dhoni finally said this and also the reason behind it.
Dhoni said, ‘We need to keep an eye on how much cricket he (Matisha) is playing. I believe he is not the type of player who plays much red ball cricket. I think he should play in the shorter ODI format as well. Yes, but in these formats, he must play big ICC tournaments. He is one such bowler who can be used on special occasions. For this, he needs to be fit and available whenever there are ICC tournaments. He is very important to Sri Lanka.
Pathirana is known as ‘Junior Malinga’.
Dhoni said he should probably watch Pathirana’s bowling action and keep an eye on him. Pathirana bowls a bit like Lasith Malinga. He is also known as ‘Junior Malinga’. Playing too much cricket with this type of bowling action is a major cause of injury to the bowler. Maybe that’s why Dhoni advised him to play only big tournaments.
Joined CSK as a replacement player
Pathirana is playing a key role for Chennai Super Kings this season. Pathirana was replaced in the CSK team last year. He got few chances in IPL 2022 but this time MS Dhoni is constantly including him in playing-11.
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