During the match against Mumbai Indians (MI), Pathirana stood out as the best-performing bowler for the four-time champions, taking three wickets for just 15 runs. One of the most memorable moments of his spell was when he bowled an inch-perfect yorker to get rid of MI’s half-centurion Nehal Wadhera, who had scored 64 runs off 51 balls.
It all happened in the 18th over of MI’s innings when Wadhera stepped across the stumps to target the on-side. But Pathirana went for a toe-crushing yorker, and the MI batter was cleaned up behind his legs.
Here is the video:
Pathirana bowled significantly well and bagged two more scalps in the form of Arshad Khan (1) and Tristan Stubbs (20) to complete his three wickets. Apart from the young Lankan pacer, Tushar Deshpande (2/26) and Deepak Chahar (2/18) also shined with the ball as CSK restricted Mumbai to 139/8 after opting to bowl first at Chepauk.
In response, the hosts gunned down the target in 17.4 overs, with opener Devon Conway scoring the maximum 44 runs off 42 balls, including 4 boundaries. After the game, CSK skipper MS Dhoni reckoned that Pathirana should stay away from Test cricket and focus more towards the T20 format.
“I personally think he is not someone who should play a lot of red-ball cricket. I think he shouldn’t even get close to it. Even in white-ball cricket, the 50-over version he should play as less as possible. [He should] play the big ICC tournaments because he is not somebody who will change a lot. This [having an impact in short bursts] is what he will do, so you can always use him at crucial times,” said Dhoni at the post-match presentation.
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