Young Sri Lankan fast bowler Matheesha Pathirana picked up two wickets on his debut for CSK against GT in the IPL 2022 on Sunday.
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Chennai Super Kings (CSK) captain MS Dhoni handed a chance to a few youngsters — N Jagadeesan, Prashant Solanki and Matheesha Pathirana — to prove their prowess in the penultimate match of the season after being knocked out of the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2022 playoffs race. Dhoni made the most of the match to access the youngsters who could turn out to be useful for the franchise in their future.
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Dhoni took the decision to bat after winning the toss against Gujarat Titans at the Wankhede Stadium, Mumbai on Sunday. Jagadeesan stood out with his batting performance as he notched up an unbeaten score of 39 runs off 33 deliveries which was laced with three boundaries and one hit over the fence to guide his side to a moderate total of 133/5 after opener Ruturaj Gaikwad (53 off 49) laid a strong foundation at top of the order.
Gujarat Titans banked on an unbeaten half-century from veteran batter Wriddhiman Saha (67 not out) in the chase along with cameos from Matthew Wade (20) and David Miller (15 nout) to chase down the target with five balls to spare. But the young Sri Lankan fast bowler was the pick of the lot for CSK in the bowling department as he returned figures of 2/24 in his IPL debut.
Assessing the youngsters performance in the match, Dhoni said, “Sai bowled very well in the middle overs. Had it been earlier in the tournament, it would have been a tactical move to have Shivam in. Had we sent him ahead it would have defeated the purpose of playing Jaggi today. We wanted him to spend time in the middle. With Pathirana, the margin of error is slim. He’s got a good slower one and it will be tough to hit him if he bowls at a consistent pace. We will look to give people chances”.
