CSK won their last game by defeating Royal Challengers Bangalore in a close encounter. One of CSK’s player who gave a highlighting performance in that match was Sri Lanka’s young pacer – Matheesha Pathirana. Pathirana conceded only four runs off the 18th over of the innings, and gave away only one boundary in the all-important final over, while also dismissing a dangerous-looking Suyash Prabhudessai on the penultimate delivery of the match.
A recent report states that CSK could have had the Pathirana’s services much before 2022. In a story reported by Indian Express, Bilal Fassy, it has been revealed that Dhoni had contacted Pathirana in 2020!
“He was only 17 or 18 then, and it was peak of the pandemic when Dhoni wrote a letter asking Pathirana to get vaccinated and join the team in the UAE. He had already played the U-19 World Cup by then (2020) and was featuring in Bangladesh leagues. One of his videos of him demolishing the batsmen with yorkers had gone viral then and that’s when even the Super Kings showed interest in him,” Fassy told the newspaper.
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“In the last three years, he has developed a lot. The video that Dhoni saw was not from a first-class game or something, but from a school tournament against (Sanath) Jayasuriya’s school. And very soon even Malinga, who has been coaching few boys with similar action, started showing interest in Pathirana too. Unlike others in the group, what impressed Malinga was Pathirana’s speed and the accuracy he was able to get. He still has work about his consistency in gaining accuracy, but you can see him gaining confidence,” Fassy said.
