With 12 wickets this season, Colombo Strikers player Pathirana leads all scorers in the LPL.
Matheesha Pathirana of Sri Lanka praised MS Dhoni, the captain of the Chennai Super Kings, for helping him develop as a bowler. After enjoying an incredible Indian Premier League season earlier this year with CSK, the 20-year-old has advanced significantly in recent months.
“As a young person, it helps your career if someone gives you confidence like that. I felt confident at that time because a player of such calibre had shown faith in me. declared Pathirana.
Pathirana remarked, “I learned a lot from Dhoni,” when asked about lessons he picked up from the former Indian World Cup winning captain. The first thing is humbleness and that’s why he is very successful. It is tremendously motivating that he is the fittest cricketer at age 42. I was a young person and nobody there knew me when I first arrived, and they trained and taught me many things.
“At this point, I am aware of how to play in any T20 game and balance my four overs during a match. I can accomplish a lot for the team and the country, Dhoni assured me, if I keep my body healthy.
It’s interesting to note that Dhoni had stated Pathirana shouldn’t play red ball cricket following a match against the Mumbai Indians earlier this IPL season. “I feel he should not play red-ball cricket, not even get close to it, even play only ICC tournaments with ODIs and keep the rest as little as possible, because he’s not someone who’ll change a lot,” Dhoni had stated when asked for his advice on how to manage the Lankan pacer’s workload.
Pathirana, who plays for Colombo Strikers in the Lanka Premier League, has 12 wickets this season.Pathirana’s slinging motion is similar to that of former Sri Lanka pacer Lasith Malinga, to whom he is frequently compared. “I’m constantly trying to improve my action and bowling.” Malinga was overjoyed when he met me because he saw someone who looked like him,” claimed the footballer, commonly known as Baby Malinga.
Surprisingly, his father claims that the action is not the result of Malinga. “We heard he has a bowling motion comparable to Malinga’s. He, however, has not imitated it. When he first began playing cricket, he used to bowl like that. “He improved his bowling skills thanks to rigorous training,” his father told The Sunday Observer.
