MATCH STORIES 
Follow UsMatheesha Pathirana can do no wrong in the Chennai Super Kings (CSK) jersey. Does he have a statue at the Marina Beach yet?
If not, it's good only.
The Sri Lankan cricketer has just given them the perfect pose for the statue - both arms up in the air while throwing his body to his right at full tilt. Airborne with the centre of gravity a meter above the ground.
Delhi Capitals were off to a flier with the David Warner - Prithvi Shaw pair adding 93 runs on their reunion as the opening pair. Pathirana, who is not particularly known for his fielding, plucked a one-handed catch out of thin air to dismiss Warner. The screenshot of the moment when Pathirana held onto the catch may make the greatest football goalkeepers drop their jaws in awe.
The reaction from Pathirana stole the show. He just laid flat on the ground with his hands underneath his chin, leaving the fans wondering if the catch was too easy for him or if he couldn’t believe he pulled it off.
But that was not even the best of Pathirana in the game. It came five overs later when he put his ‘Baby Malinga’ cap on.
Delhi underwent a bit of a slump post Warner’s dismissal. Prithvi Shaw was out in the next over, and Rishabh Pant kicked off slowly. However, Marsh began to assume the onus from the other end, scoring two fours and a six from his previous six balls. CSK needed a wicket again.
…And Pathirana delivered! In the grandest way possible.
150 kph! Nailed on the yorker length! Swinging in just enough.
By the time Marsh brought his bat down, the ball had uprooted the middle stump. Warner and Marsh, Pathirana pouched both Aussie batters in the DC line-up when they looked ominous.
Pant, 14 off 15 balls at this point, was still going slow. Tristan Stubbs (44* from 23 balls in the last match) was DC’s hope to provide a big finish. But hold on, Pathirana is not done yet. He had a repeat doze. Only two balls later.
149 kph! Nailed on the yorker length again! Swinging in a tad bit again, this time from marginally outside the off stump.
There is a good chance Stubbs didn’t see it and simply swung his bat like he was playing a casual drive. Yet again, the ball had lit up his stumps before the batter understood what had hit him.
The batters he had accounted for were Warner, Marsh and Stubbs. Pathirana had done his job before the death overs.
He ended with figures of 3/31 in his four overs, pocketing Pant just when the left-hander was getting into his groove with 16 runs from his preceding four deliveries. Barring his 17-run last over, Pathirana conceded only 14 from his three overs, breaking Delhi’s rhythm with every over he bowled.
The Sri Lankan has gone through an interesting arc that sort of began with CSK only last year. He was the breakout star last year with a brilliant display of death bowling. Then came the 50-over World Cup, where Pathirana was all over the place. He was the most expensive specialist bowler of the tournament (economy 9.7). At the death, he went at 13.8 in five overs.
The common consensus was that he had already been found out - that there was a big difference between bowling four overs in an IPL match and a 50-over World Cup game.
He wasn’t supposed to be playing so soon in this IPL. Pathirana pulled his hamstring during the second T20I against Bangladesh only two weeks before IPL 2024 began. As reported, he was set to miss the first two weeks of the season.
As it turned out, Pathirana missed only one match. In CSK’s second match, against Gujarat Titans, he returned the figures of 1/29, with Sai Sudharsan being his sole wicket. With three wickets tonight (March 31) and the catch of Warner, he has ensured he keeps dismissing the specialist batters of the opposition. He is looking a million dollars again.
Pathirana can do no wrong in the Chennai Super Kings jersey.
