‘I was a kid, no one knew me. Dhoni trained me, taught me how to play T20 cricket’: Rising pacer Matheesha Pathirana

Matheesha Pathirana was all of 19 when the Chennai Super Kings (CSK) roped him in as a replacement for the injured New Zealand pacer Adam Milne in IPL 2022. The young right-arm pacer from Sri Lanka had not even played first-class cricket then. But MS Dhoni saw something special in the youngster who had made heads turn in the U19 World Cup a couple of years ago in South Africa. He handed him the CSK cap in a match against the Gujarat Titans. Pahirana, who has uncanny similarities with the legendary Lasith Malinga's bowling action, picked up two wickets but CSK lost the match. The right-arm pacer played one more match that year but he was a vital cog in CSK's wheel in the next edition.

Matheesha Pathirana and MS Dhoni celebrate with CSK teammates

Dhoni used Pathirana as a death-over specialist in IPL 2023 and the young man from Kandy delivered more often than not. In the 12 matches that Pathirana played in this year's IPL, he picked up 19 wickets and considering most of his overs came towards the latter half of the innings, an economy rate of 8.01 was pretty good too.

Pathirana's rise has been steady since then. He made his ODI and T20I debut and did reasonably well. The ‘baby Malinga’ is currently playing for the Colombo Strikers in the Lanka Premier League where he has picked up 12 wickets in 8 matches. Recalling the time spent with Dhoni, Pathirana said it was a big learning experience for him.

"As a youngster, if someone gives you confidence like that, it boosts your career. A player of that level showed faith in me and I believed I can do anything in that moment. Not only me, Dhoni gave confidence to all of us. There were 4-5 top players who were injured and he showed his trust in youngsters which was great," Pathirana said.

‘I learnt a lot from Dhoni’: Pathirana

The 20-year-old said Dhoni advised him to focus on his fitness if he wanted to achieve greater things for his team. "I learned a lot from Dhoni. The first thing is humbleness and that's why he is very successful. He is 42 and still the fittest cricketer which is really inspiring. When I went there, I was a kid and no one knew me and they trained and taught me several things. Now, I know how to perform in any T20 game and how to balance my four overs in a match. Dhoni told me if I keep my body away from injury then I can achieve a lot for the team and the country," he added.

The bowler is also inspired by another superstar from the world of sports, Cristiano Ronaldo. He revealed, "We all know Cristiano Ronaldo and I am a fan of the footballer. So, I got inspired by his new celebration and now I am doing it as well.

Pathirana also shared his feeling about meeting Lasith Malinga, who is one of his idols, for the first time. "I am constantly trying to improve my action and bowling. Malinga was very happy when he met me because he saw someone more like him."

Colombo Strikers is led by Niroshan Dickwella, while the other participating teams in LPL are Dambulla Aura captained by Kusal Mendis, Galle Titans led by Dasun Shanaka, B-Love Kandy captained by Wanindu Hasaranga, and defending champions Jaffna Kings led by veteran Sri Lankan allrounder Thisara Perera.