Chennai: After Matheesha Pathirana’s 3-15 set the base for Chennai Super Kings to beat Mumbai Indians by six wickets in a one-sided IPL 2023 match at the M.A. Chidambaram Stadium on Saturday, captain M.S. Dhoni stated the young pacer’s consistency, variation and pace made him special.
At the same time, Dhoni said Pathirana should be handled with care, adding that the youngster shouldn’t be playing red-ball cricket. Pathirana was on fire in his spell at the back end of the innings, giving away just 15 runs in his four overs.
He did not concede a single boundary in his spell while picking three wickets, including taking out Nehal Wadhera with an accurate and fiery 145kph yorker, denying Mumbai the finishing kick they needed after losing their top three batters in power-play as they ended up at 139/8.
“People who don’t have very clean (conventional) action, batsmen have a difficult time picking it and when trying to go after the bowler. But his consistency, variation, pace makes him special. What’s important is to keep an eye on how much cricket he is playing.”
“I feel he should not play red-ball cricket, not even get close to it, even play only ICC tournaments with ODIs and keep the rest as less as possible, because he’s not someone who’ll change a lot. This is what he’ll do. So you can always use him at crucial times.”
“But 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 he came, he was very lean but has put on 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,” said Dhoni in the post-match presentation ceremony.
Chennai’s win over Mumbai takes them to second place in the points table with 13 points. “Crucial game for a simple reason: the middle of the table has a logjam. This win gives a cushion, but we can’t get comfortable with it because one or two teams are close and are facing each other. We haven’t had a couple of games go in our way, so, good to be on the winning side,” added Dhoni.
Dhoni also admitted that he was a little hesitant over bowling first on winning the toss with overcast conditions, but was convinced by the entire team to go with it.
“Frankly I was slightly doubtful, I wanted to bat first, but the thinktank together said there is a chance of rain. I had a simple calculation that the game starts at 3:30 pm and if we are batting first and get about 2 hours to play, a major part of the game would be done with. But I was slightly outnumbered and I said ‘Let’s go with the majority’.
“Ultimately, our strength has been to talk about things and decide what’s best for the team and go with the majority when there’s confusion. As I said, it was slightly confusing as I felt the wicket could slow down. It has always been very good initially and I strongly felt that the rain would come after the majority of the game is done and would not have a big impact.”
Pathirana, who won the Player of the Match Award, was pleased over getting more matches at Chennai and thanked the team for giving him the motivation to do well.
“It started from last season, I came as a replacement and played two games. Now I’m getting more games and am happy.”
“The team gave me a lot of confidence. This is my best bowling figures in T20 I think, happy about that and contributing to the win. I’m a die-hard fan of Cristiano Ronaldo and have modelled my celebration after him.”
Chennai’s next match in IPL 2023 will be against Delhi Capitals at the same venue on Wednesday.
(IANS)
