Matheesha Pathirana's 3 best spells in IPL
In the absence of Dwayne Bravo, there were questions regarding Chennai Super Kings' death bowling, but Matheesha Pathirana has made sure that CSK do not miss the legendary West Indian a bit.
With his slingy action, which very much resembles the bowling action of one of the IPL greats, Sri Lankan fast bowler Lasith Malinga, batsmen found it difficult to pick his variations with his arm coming even lower than Malinga.
He is quick through the air, which helps him decieve the batsman with his variations, as his arm speed doesn't change during that time, which makes him a difficult customer to deal with.
In IPL 2023, Matheesha Pathirana has proved his mettle, with skipper MS Dhoni mostly using him in the backend of the innings. He has picked up 17 wickets so far in 13 matches, giving up runs at an economy of 7.71 on average.
But the most important aspect of Matheesha Pathirana's bowling is his ability to stitch dot balls, which helps him build pressure on the batsman to induce false shots, and with 51% dot balls, he is among the top bowlers to do so, which doesn't change in the death overs, as he has a 52% dot ball percentage in that phase of the game.
On that note, let's look at some of his best outings in IPL, where he managed to outfox the batsmen with his skillset.
Matheesha Pathirana's 3 best bowling performances in the IPL:
#3 2/24 against Gujarat Titans, Match 62, IPL, Wankhede 2022
It was a big occasion for the youngster from Sri Lanka to feature in an IPL game for a franchise that has a big reputation and fan following across the globe.
Chennai, who were already out of playoff contention, decided to give youngsters a chance to look out for future seasons, and Matheesha Pathirana got his debut cap against the Gujarat Titans.
Chennai huffed and puffed to a satisfactory score of 133/5 on a sluggish pitch for a change at Wankhede, with some useful contributions from Ruturaj Gaikwad, Moeen Ali, and Narayan Jagdeeshan.
With nothing to lose, CSK bowlers bowled their hearts out and made a match out of this total, especially Pathirana, who took the first ball IPL wicket of Shubman Gill on a pacy fuller delivery that trapped him in front of the stumps.
He then outfoxed Hardik Pandya with a slower one into the pitch, who checked his shot only to balloon it to mid-off.
Matheesha Pathirana, who had a memorable debut, finished with a figure of 2/24.
#2 3/37 against Delhi Capitals, Match 55, Chepauk, IPL 2023
Chennai ended up with a more than challenging total of 167/8 on a Chepauk pitch, with every batsman chipping in with useful cameos.
None of the CSK batsmen crossed the 30-run mark, but collective efforts from the entire team mean CSK had their nose ahead in the match.
With initial jitters in the innings, the Delhi Capitals were slowly getting back into the match, with Manish Pandey and Rilee Rossouw resurrecting the ship for DC.
But Matheesha Pathirana proved to be too hot to handle for them as he first pinned Pandey with a 149-kph yorker, pinning him on the back leg adjacent to the middle stump.
He then deviced the in-form Axar Patel with a slower delivery before shooting a searing yorker to Lalit Yadav to ensure that CSK won the match comfortably with a margin of 27 runs.
#1 3/15 against Mumbai Indians, Match 49, Chepauk, IPL 2023
Mumbai Indians did not even in their dreams imagine that a bowler with their former bowling spreadhead Lasith Malinga's bowling action would trouble them, and that too on a slow Chepauk pitch.
He first bolwed Nehal Wadhera behind his legs with a pacy pin-point yorker before bowling a slower, fuller-length delivery outside off which Arshad Khan tried to slice to deep point only to hand an easy catch to Ruturaj Gaikwad.
Pathirana then bamboozled Tristian Stubbs with a floating delivery outside off, which induced a false shot at the extra cover region, where Ravindra Jadeja took an excellent running catch to ensure MI ended up with a below-par total of 139/8.
Chennai chased down the target with 14 balls to spare, losing only four wickets, with Pathirana getting the man of the match award for his spell of 3/15.