‘Saans to lene do isko’ – Fans react as Matheesha Pathirana makes ODI debut for Sri Lanka couple of days after winning IPL 2023 with CSK

After winning the IPL 2023 trophy with Chennai Super Kings (CSK) a couple of days ago, Matheesha Pathirana has now made his debut for Sri Lanka in the ongoing first ODI of a three-match series against Afghanistan. The 20-year-old right-arm pacer is known for his slingy action like the former cricketer Lasith Malinga.

Pathirana did really well in the recently ended season of IPL for CSK where he scalped 19 wickets from 12 matches at an economy of 8.01. He has been CSK’s prime death bowler throughout the season and didn’t disappoint on most occasions. Even the CSK skipper MS Dhoni praised the young pacer for his bowling.

Apart from that, Dhoni also said that Pathirana should on international tournaments and should not get even close to Test Cricket. The former India captain believes that he can be an asset for Sri Lanka in big tournaments. Now that Pathirana has made his debut for Sri Lanka in the ODIs, it is likely that the 20-year-old can be seen in action in the World Cup Qualifiers for later this month.

“People who don’t have any clean action, batters have a difficult time picking it. But his consistency, pace makes him special. I feel he should not play red-ball cricket, not even get close to it, he can play only ICC tournaments. He is young and he would be a great asset for Sri Lankan cricket. Last time he came, he was lean but now he has put on muscle and is stronger,” Dhoni said during the IPL when Pathirana registered excellent bowling figures of 3/15 in a league match against Mumbai Indians.

Sri Lanka didn’t had a great start in the first ODI

Talking about the match, batting first at the Mahinda Rajapaksa International Cricket Stadium, the hosts Sri Lanka didn’t have a great start against Afghanistan as they have already lost 5 wickets under 200 runs. The Lankans lost 4 wickets for just 84 runs in 19.2 overs.

After that, Dhananjaya de Silva and Charith Asalanka took the innings further and put up a partnership of 99 runs for the fifth wicket. De Silva got out after scoring 51 runs off 59 balls including five boundaries. While Asalanka is still at the crease by scoring a half-century along with the skipper Dushan Hemantha.

Here’s a look at how fans reacted to Matheesha Pathirana making his ODI debut: