“Our Malinga is really good”: MS Dhoni expects Matheesha Pathirana to contribute significantly for CSK in IPL 2023

MS Dhoni expects Matheesha Pathirana: The captain of Chennai Super Kings sounded satisfied with his rookie bowlers this season.

Chennai Super Kings captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni accepted that they were 15 runs short in their last match of the ongoing 15th season of the Indian Premier League tonight.

Dhoni’s decision to bat first was followed by Chennai posting a mediocre 150/6 in their allotted quota of 20 overs. Barring all-rounder Moeen Ali scoring the second-fastest half-century for CSK, no other batter got going against Rajasthan Royals at the Brabourne Stadium on Friday. Thus, forcing the defending champions to settle for a substandard innings total.

“What we need to realize is we’re playing a batter light. Once we lost those quick wickets, Moeen [Ali] had to change his momentum. I feel if one of the batters had batted with him, he could have continued his momentum. The role and responsibility got slightly swapped once we lost those wickets and that made it really difficult,” Dhoni told Star Sports after the match.

Super Kings, who lost Devon Conway, Narayan Jagadeesan and Ambati Rayudu for 10 runs across 17 deliveries, couldn’t recover from this setback. Ali, who had registered a 19-ball half-century, scored 42 (38) post crossing the 50-run mark. As for the team, Chennai scored 67/5 in 13 overs to nullify all the progress made in the first seven overs.

MS Dhoni expects Matheesha Pathirana to contribute significantly for CSK in IPL 2023

Dhoni, however, was praiseworthy of his rookie bowlers claiming them to have “learnt a lot” in their maiden IPL season. In the absence of pacer Deepak Chahar, the likes of Mukesh Choudhary, Maheesh Theekshana, Simarjeet Singh, Prashant Solanki and Matheesha Pathirana did leave an impression in different stages of IPL 2022.

“Whatever games they have got, they have learned a lot from it. One of the biggest examples is Mukesh [Choudhary]. He has played all the games but what is impressive is to see from the first game to the last game how he has improved, how he can bowl at the death. Still what he will do is go back and learn out of the outings he has got,” Dhoni said.

Dhoni, in particular, was appreciative of Pathirana. Brought in as a replacement for New Zealand fast bowler Adam Milne, 19-year old uncapped Sri Lankan pacer in Pathirana has gained a lot of limelight for his Lasith Malinga-like bowling action.

Pathirana, who picked a couple of wickets in as many matches this season, has the backing of Dhoni with respect to not just returning but contributing in IPL 2023.

“Our Malinga [Matheesha Pathirana], he’s really good. It’s difficult to pick him and I feel he will definitely contribute next year for us in a big way,” Dhoni mentioned.